How did you get into this? What in your background prepared you for what you're doing now?

I started my career in Human Resources at Epoch back in 1999. I was a graduate student in Cultural Anthropology and just wanted to make some money on the side. It ended up being a life changing experience. I loved Epoch, enjoyed HR and soon enough became the HR Manager and then moved up to the HR & Administration Director. I also switched my Master's degree to Organizational Leadership with an emphasis in Human Resources. In my 10 years as an HR professional, I have dealt with every situation you could ever imagine. Because the companies that I have worked for and with have always been small to medium sized, I was always thoroughly involved with every situation and the decisions that had to be made.

I decided to go into consulting because of a few different reasons. First and foremost, I have always been "the person" all my friends and colleagues call when they have any type of issue or question. It's funny, [but] people feel comfortable with me and come to me for all sorts of advice including HR advice. Secondly, I know that I can make a positive impact on so many organizations that lack the proper policies and procedures, especially legally required ones. I just have an innate desire to help out in any way that I can. HR is where my talents shine.

What changes have affected your work since you began it?

Well, I would be crazy not to say the economy. I think the state of the economy today has both positively and negatively affected my work. One huge positive, from an HR standpoint, is that I can now recruit faster, cheaper and better candidates for almost every position I have available. The biggest negative for me is that I have less money to work with when it comes to setting up employee benefits such as retirement accounts, medical insurance and just the entire employee compensation package as a whole.

Also, being in California and practicing HR in this state is always interesting. California is constantly updating and passing employment regulations. Just trying to keep abreast of all the changes and updates is a challenge. With every new law, comes a need to update/change policies and procedures in order to stay compliant. The biggest law that has impacted my career thus far is the requirement for sexual harassment training for employers with over 50 employees. I personally had to make changes to my knowledge base in order to stay compliant. I obtained my certification to conduct state approved sexual harassment training.

What do you see as the challenges to working in adult and how do you overcome them?

I think the biggest challenge is to get business owners to take the need for proper Human Resources administration seriously. It is so easy to say, it has been working well so far, why change it? It just takes one audit, one employee, one complaint to make you wish you had prepared yourself. Don't get me wrong, I think we're in a much better place now than we were 10 years ago. The industry has matured and we are now left with a serious group of business professionals. I love the industry and the people in it and just have a desire to contribute to the professionalism that so many others are already exhibiting; to help our industry be taken seriously. I plan on just being patient and steadfast with my message.

Does your work affect your personal life?

Not at all.

Do you have a personal motto or slogan that you follow?

I believe that whatever you do in life, do it well, go above and beyond. Otherwise, why bother?