Marie Brown

I've been working in talent acquisition and recruitment for close to a decade now, covering all different facets of recruitment with some human resources mixed in. Currently, I serve as Manager of Talent Acquisition and Recruitments for a charter school network in Los Angeles, a role I've held for about a year. The title doesn't really do justice to what I do - I wear multiple hats, which I'm totally comfortable with. I work with our executive leadership to bring in and update hiring processes, optimize systems, and build out systems that the entire organization will eventually be utilizing. I also coach and support executives on hiring strategies and build out interview and hiring processes that are equitable as well as effective to support hiring a little bit faster while launching a new Application Tracking System company wide. Before this, I spent 10 years at Age of Learning, an education technology company where I started very early on as employee 60. I began wearing multiple hats as an executive assistant, receptionist, and point of contact for employee support and relations. I supported the founders from an executive perspective, and one of the executives I supported oversaw human resources, which naturally progressed into working more closely with her in recruitment. As the company grew from 60 people to over 500-700 employees, my role evolved. I came to a crossroads where it was either human resources or recruitment, and I really loved the recruitment piece. I'm a servant leader, so anytime I can support or help another individual, I'm all for it. Helping people at any phase of their life or career find that next opportunity was really rewarding for me, and it challenged me as a professional to grow. During that time, I chose recruitment and decided to go back to school to earn my bachelor's degree in human development while the company was growing. The company invested in me by sending me to conferences and various niche conferences to network and develop my skills. I started as an associate recruiter partnering with the customer support department, which was high-volume recruitment. Eventually, I got into senior recruitment, where one of the highlights was hiring my own boss - the first head of talent acquisition. I took it upon myself to ask if I could find our next head of talent acquisition instead of using external agencies, and thankfully, with my relationships with the founders and my track record, they trusted me to do that. I also brought in the first head of legal counsel and other executive roles that really helped position the organization and contributed to the development of products for children. Sadly, like most technology companies, there was a layoff, so my tenure there ended after 10 years. I took some time off for personal and health reasons, and even with the difficult job market, I was grateful to find a great opportunity within education that continues to challenge me and aligns with my passions of contributing in a different capacity while still serving as a leader.