It’s Britta

I bring a unique lens to Executive Coaching & HR Consulting, shaped by both lived experience, professional expertise, and current academic studies. Raised in a large multicultural family, I learned early how to navigate diverse perspectives, build empathy, and honor individual stories — lessons that continue to inform my work today.

Drawing on 20+ years of HR leadership, I’ve coached founders, creatives, people managers, and executive teams to navigate complex people dynamics, build healthy cultures, and grow their organizations. I understand the pressures of leadership, the realities of managing people, the nuances of team dynamics, the demands of organizational growth, and the inner work required to maintain balance between life and leadership.

Currently completing my master’s in Mental Health Counseling at Northwestern, I weave clinical theory, psychoeducation, and human development principles into leadership coaching. I help leaders not only navigate stress and complexity, but also understand the deeper patterns — cognitive, emotional, and relational — that shape how they lead and how their teams experience them. This understanding of human dynamics enables the cultivation of workspaces where people — and performance — can flourish.

Leaders work with me because I understand that leadership is personal — and that growing as a leader means growing as a person. I coach from a place of warmth, directness, and deep respect for each individual’s journey, helping clients bridge personal growth with professional impact.

Childhood

As the seventh of ten children, I grew up with more siblings than most, less personal space than many, and a deep understanding of group dynamics. The size of our family dictated certain practices: assigned seats in the 15-passenger van, mountains of hand-me-downs, a shared girls underwear drawer, and an infamous job chart.

Job Chart

The job chart hung in the kitchen for all to see — including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and guests. It was actually two charts: one weekly “inspection chart” listing our names, days of the week and jobs and a monthly chart called The Larsen Bank. We were given a weekly allowance based on our age, and if we completed all our jobs, we received the full amount. If we didn’t, we’d get an “X” — each X meant $1 deducted from our allowance. In addition, if we chose to leave our money in The Larsen Bank each week, we earned 10% interest at the end of the month. So at 7 years old, I would receive $7 a week if I completed my jobs. By the end of the month, I could have $28 — plus $2.80 in interest, if I hadn’t taken any money out of the bank (aka borrowed from our parents). Adults thought it was genius. Cousins and friends would make fun of us — until their families adopted the job chart in their own homes.

X’s

The system worked for many years — until my brothers became teenagers and quickly figured out it was worth losing $1 to not have to clean their room or complete their chore. When that no longer served as a motivator, my mom raised the stakes, introducing triple X’s — each one deducting $3 from your allowance. That meant if you skipped your morning job, evening job, or didn’t clean your bedroom, you could lose anywhere from $3 to $9 in a single day — and by the end of the week, you might even owe my parents money. And of course, all of this was tracked right on the charts for everyone to see.

❤️’s

In contrast to the X’s were the hearts. If you did your chore exceptionally well or went above and beyond around the house, you could earn a heart — adding $1 to your allowance — or up to three hearts, for a $3 bonus. Based on this job chart (recreated but quite accurate for 1985) I was 9 years old earning $9/week for allowance and got $7 worth of X’s and $5 worth of heart and earned $7 that week.

Adolescents

At 13, I was running a register; by 15, I was running a team. Work was my first language of worth. In our family, getting a job was expected once we were old enough. I started at Brooks Pharmacy at 13 and stayed through high school and college. Work quickly became more than a paycheck — it was a place where I could be seen, valued, and rewarded. During adolescence, it offered a clear path to identity, competence, and independence — critical needs in a big family where attention was scarce. The reinforcement was immediate and addictive: better shifts, more money, promotions.

By 15, I was an Assistant Manager, supervising employees in their twenties. Looking back, I see how these early experiences shaped my drive — and planted early patterns of seeking worth through work that I’d later examine more deeply as a leader and coach.

I was loyal to Brooks, but fashion was my true interest — and once I turned 16, I started working at Express. Over the next several years, I also waited tables, worked as a temp, and coached gymnastics. From age 13 through college, I consistently held one to five jobs at a time while balancing school — early patterns of overwork and achievement that would later shape both my leadership style and my understanding of workplace dynamics.

By the time I was twenty, I had clocked well over 10,000 hours of work — and learned that hard work could earn you a lot. But in hindsight, I also see that work became my first addiction. The structure, rewards, and validation gave me an identity during a time of developmental uncertainty — fueling my career growth while masking deeper emotional needs.

My 20’s

I started my twenties as an entry-level Assistant and ended them as an executive as a VP of HR. It was no surprise that I studied Organizational Behavior at the School of Management at Boston University — my family often felt like an organization.

To distinguish myself among so many siblings (a world-class gymnast, a Tony-nominated Broadway star, and a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra), I turned my love of fashion and beauty into a career in NYC, beginning as a Showroom Assistant at Betsey Johnson, followed by a role as Creative Operations Coordinator at Donna Karan.

I loved working in fashion and was fortunate to be part of a start-up agency in 2002, where I led the Creative Services team (Production, Studio, and Project Management), managing over 2,000 marketing projects annually for clients like Donna Karan, Gap, Nautica, Bottega Veneta, and more — until the agency grew large enough to need an HR function, and I was promoted into that role.

My business degree, Organizational Behavior coursework, and HR for Dummies book became my toolkit as I learned to advocate for employees — noticing not just the high performers or underperformers, but everyone in between. I write about how my large family influenced the leader I became in Yale to Jail: Growing Up One of Ten Kids (somewhere in the middle).

My 30’s

My 30s began with little interest in climbing the corporate ladder, as I was struggling to get pregnant and had been told I couldn’t have children. I rushed from intense workdays to fertility treatments, but after four years of trying, my passion for work faded. During those years, I discovered yoga, meditation, and Buddhism, which helped me reconnect with myself. On my 10-year anniversary at the agency, I resigned to volunteer at the Omega Institute — telling myself, “If I can’t give birth to a baby, I’ll give birth to myself.” One week later, I conceived naturally and gave birth to my first child nine months to the day after leaving that job.

I took a few months off after he was born, but I had never not worked since I was 13, and at 33, I wanted to return to a place where I felt most valued. I went back to what was familiar — leading HR at a founder-led creative agency, helping them scale and managing people operations and culture. I ended my 30s realizing I had developed a specialty with founder-led creative companies. After 10 years with one founder and six with another, I was ready for a new challenge — and landed my first job making six figures with a two in front of it. I had earned six figures throughout most of my twenties, except for the year I spent volunteering and having my child. I’m open about my compensation and have even shared my Salary Story on Refinery29 to help others negotiate for their worth.

I started my 30s reporting to CCOs, CSOs, COOs, CFOs, and CEOs — and ended the decade reporting directly to founders themselves. Along the way, I honed my superpower: managing the entire employee journey, from candidate through alumni. I loved advocating for employees — regardless of their role, rank, or identity. And I was ready for more. I love making things better — so much so that at one point, t-shirts were printed with the slogan: “Britta Makes It Happen.” Empowering employees at all levels, I respect history while building the future. I understand both creativity and spreadsheets; I balance the needs of both the individual and the whole; and I believe that inspiration is just as important as objectives.

My 40’s

I set out in my 40s realizing I had spent my career in founder-led companies — and was eager to work with more. My superpower was translating who the founder was into an intentional employee experience, improving the employee journey for everyone, and making work work better. After a succession of founder-led companies, I was inspired in 2018 to launch my own company — an HR consulting practice specifically for founder-led companies with fewer than 50 employees. These companies often didn’t have an HR leader at my level, but regardless of size, work is hard — and it felt exciting to share my expertise with more founders.

From fashion houses to innovation labs to creative studios, I’ve had the privilege of partnering with brilliant founders across industries. My focus: translating big visions into everyday employee experiences that inspire and endure — from candidate to alumni.

For years, employees left meetings saying, “That felt like HR therapy!” The sentiment stuck, especially as I supported people through the complexities of work and life. I’ve always believed in putting the human in Human Resources — guiding employees through career challenges, leadership transitions, and workplace dynamics with empathy and intuition. But as conversations around mental health deepened post-pandemic, I wanted greater expertise to support people beyond traditional HR frameworks. I applied to grad school in 2023 at Northwestern and started my journey of becoming an Executive Therapist.

I relaunched my consulting practice, It’s HR Therapy, and became a Board Member at The Hub — The Philipstown Behavioral Health Hub, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides a single, local point of access for mental health and addiction programs, services, and education for individuals and families. My mission: to make work work better — because life is better.