17 women in HR who are revolutionizing the workplace through leadership and innovation

The professional landscape is evolving, and those leading the charge on this revolution recognize that innovation peaks when the workplace is a supportive, safe place for all. Women make up 47% of the workforce in the U.S., and many of those women are the ones driving workplace innovation.

In this blog, we’re highlighting women who are changing the game for everyone — but especially for other women. These HR thought leaders, corporate people leaders, and workplace strategy innovators are creating solutions to long-standing problems, bringing together networks of like-minded HR folks, and shouting from the rooftops about bettering the workplace for women.

HR thought leaders

This category of trailblazers have dedicated themselves to getting loud and proud about the state of the workplace — and how it should change. They run newsletters, podcasts, have active followings on LinkedIn, and are generally vocal across all types of media to spread the word about HR’s important work.

Hebba Youssef, Founder of I Hate It Here and Chief People Officer at Workweek

Hebba Youssef tops the list when it comes to bold, no-holds-barred HR thought leadership. She’s built an HR media empire in I Hate It Here, with a newsletter, podcast, blog, and the Safe Space community where HR leaders can come together for support, advice, networking, and more. We love Hebba because she’s breaking the mold when it comes to HR — she tells it like it is, and she’s not afraid to be vocal about making the workplace safe and supportive for all.

Rasika Rajagopalan, Host of Scaling People and VP of People & Talent at Savvy Wealth

Beyond a very impressive resume and being on the front lines of HR herself, Rasika hosts the Scaling People podcast. In every episode, she talks to the people behind people teams. The podcast caught our attention because she interviews innovative people at innovative companies. There’s a lot we can learn from those driving big impacts, and through her podcast, Rasika is giving us easy access to these change agents.

Lola Abitogun and Velisa W., Hosts of Everybody Hates HR

Lola and Velisa bring refreshing honesty to HR. They both have deep personal experience working in HR, so they bring their insights to conversations about current events, listener-submitted questions, and trends HR leaders are facing. We appreciate their candor and their clear openness to audience questions. You can hear what they have to say on their podcast or TikTok.

Amanda Halle, Founder & CEO at Mindful Growth Partners and AI facilitator

Amanda Halle is one of those HR leaders other HR leaders call when they need to figure something out. As the founder of Mindful Growth Partners, she partners with growing companies to build thoughtful, practical people strategies that actually work in the real world.

Lately, she’s been leaning into the intersection of AI and HR, helping leaders think through how emerging technology can enhance, not replace, human-centered people practices. Through her writing and advisory work, Amanda breaks down AI in a way that feels accessible and actionable for HR teams. If you’re looking for smart, no-hype takes on AI in the workplace, she’s absolutely worth a follow on LinkedIn.

Corporate people leaders

This category of women in HR is just that — women in HR. These are the women deep in the HR trenches, working to make the workplace a better place for their employees, and setting the example of how corporate HR should function.

Alison Francis, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Costco

As if we didn’t already love Costco enough, Alison Francis as their Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer really sealed the deal for us. She has worked at Costco for over 25 years, starting as an intern and rising through the ranks, collecting a Master’s in HR Management from Georgetown along the way.

What we admire most about Alison is her staunch commitment to DEI. In a world where DEI is under scrutiny from both corporations and governments, she has held her ground, standing firm in Costco’s commitment to hiring and promoting people representative of Costco’s customer base. Under her leadership, Costco has rolled out programs like employee listening initiatives, a diversity talent management dashboard built to promote equitable opportunities for employees to grow within the company, and more.

Melanie Naranjo, Chief People Officer at Ethena

We first encountered Melanie when she spoke on a panel at Lattiverse — her energy around all aspects of HR was palpable. Among many other things, Melanie is a fierce advocate for pay equity and transparency. She recently implemented a no-negotiation policy at Ethena, stating, “We want to pay people for what we think they’re worth. We don’t want to pay people for how good they are at negotiating.” Along with pay transparency during the hiring process, this evens out the playing field for all applicants.

Louise Prashad, Chief Human Resources Officer Diageo

Louise Prashad has served in several different roles in her 20+ years with Diageo — most recently as Chief Human Resources Officer, where her commitment to inclusivity has won awards. One of her most notable initiatives was to increase ethnic diversity among the leadership team. Within one year of rolling out the initiative, the program was only 7 percentage points away from its goal.

In addition to her work in DEI, Prashad also champions women in the workplace through programs like Global Menopause Awareness Guidelines and a robust family leave policy that includes 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leave (with the same amount of paternity leave in many markets), regardless of how they became parents.

Kara Grenier, Chief People Officer at Sightly

Kara Grenier may lead People at Sightly, but she’s also one of the strongest advocates we’ve heard for taking care of the people behind the people function. In a recent Nava webinar focused on HR wellbeing, Kara spoke candidly about the emotional load HR leaders carry and why self-care isn’t optional in this role, it’s essential.

Her perspective is refreshingly honest: HR can’t sustainably support an entire organization if they’re running on empty. From setting boundaries to building emotional resilience, Kara encourages people leaders to treat their own wellbeing as a strategic priority, not an afterthought. In a profession that’s constantly showing up for everyone else, her reminder to pause and protect your own energy feels both practical and powerful.

Workplace strategy innovators

These workplace strategy innovators are women who may not have HR in their titles but are influencing the way HR works through technology, community, and policy.

Madhavi Vemireddy, MD, CEO at Cleo

If you care about supporting working caregivers, you need to know Madhavi Vemireddy. As CEO of Cleo, she’s helping employers rethink what real caregiver support looks like, not just a policy on paper, but actual, hands-on guidance for employees navigating everything from new parenthood to caring for aging parents. And with so many employees in the sandwich generation, that kind of support has never mattered more.

What makes Madhavi’s leadership especially powerful is that it’s personal. She’s both a physician and a working caregiver herself, so she understands firsthand how overwhelming it can be to juggle career and care. She’s helping companies see caregiving for what it is: a core part of employee well-being, not a side conversation.

You can hear her speak on that topic in our recent webinar, From childcare to elder care: Supporting employees through every caregiving stage.

Deborah Hanus, CEO at Sparrow

Deborah Hanus spoke on a Lattiverse panel with our Founder and CEO, Brandon Weber, last year, and her insights on how to make the workplace safe and supportive for women (and use leave policies to do it) stood out. Sparrow makes leave management easier for HR, but Deborah’s contributions also come in the form of thought leadership. She’s a champion of SAFE leave, which allows employees to take time off due to personal safety concerns, including those stemming from domestic violence.

Cara Brennan Allamano, Founder at Fractional Leader Collective

Former Chief People Officer at Lattice, Cara is an HR connector. She’s a founding member of People Tech Partners and has recently started the Fractional Leader Collective — a network dedicated to supporting fractional leaders through exposure and enablement. Catch her with our CEO and Founder, Brandon Weber, on building a benefits strategy your employees will actually use.

Daisy Dowling, Founder at Workparent

In 2021, Daisy authored Workparent: The Complete Guide to Succeeding on the Job, Staying True to Yourself, and Raising Happy Kids. But she didn’t stop there. Through her company, Workparent, Daisy and her team help companies provide support to working parents through ERGs, one-on-one coaching, and more.

At least 91.9% of families in the U.S. have at least one employed parent, making parents an essential part of the workforce. Daisy’s work is helping parents succeed both in the workplace and at home.

Folks from the Nava network

Working with HR teams every day, we’ve encountered some pretty stellar women who are shaping the future of HR. From customers, advisors, and our own internal HR team, we’re proud to work closely with some of the brightest minds in HR.

Rachel Spector Whiffin, Head of People & Culture at Sleep.ai

If you’ve spent even a few minutes talking with Rachel Spector Whiffin, you know she’s the kind of HR leader who genuinely cares about getting it right, for her people and for the business. With more than 20 years in People & Culture leadership, Rachel has built and scaled teams through growth, change, and everything in between. Today, she leads People & Culture at Sleep.ai, where she brings a thoughtful, practical approach to engagement, operations, and culture across distributed teams.

Rachel is also someone who shows up for the broader HR community. She founded San Diego HR Mavens to connect and elevate leaders in HR, and as a founding member of Nava’s Customer Advisory Board, she’s always quick to raise her hand to beta test, share candid product feedback, and help shape tools that actually make HR leaders’ lives easier. She’s the kind of partner every HR team hopes to have, honest, collaborative, and all in.

See Rachel’s insights in action in this on-demand webinar on transforming employee advocacy into strategic influence at the executive level.

Lisa Moxley, Chief Human Resources Officer, Community Health Systems, Inc.

Lisa is calm, cool, and collected — always leading with a steady presence. She works hard to make small changes that provide big impacts. Beyond the day-to-day support of her people, she also worked to secure a grant to take health fairs and open enrollment to the next level for her team of 300 and their families.

As the co-chair of PIHRA Riverside, she’s also a connector, bringing together HR pros from different industries and backgrounds.

Ilana Mauskopf, Senior Director of People Operations at Nava Benefits

Just like the HR pros we work with every day at Nava, Ilana and her team are the backbone of our company. As a fully remote organization, fostering strong employee engagement takes intentional effort and leadership. Ilana’s team has implemented monthly team-building activities, bi-annual company meetings, and regular team check-ins via Slack to ensure our remote workforce stays connected, engaged, and empowered to do their best work.

Dawn Sharifan, Nava HR Community Advisor

As the former SVP of People at Slack, Dawn has the resume to back up her HR chops. But in this blog, we want to focus on Dawn’s commitment to serving as a mentor. As an advisor for the Nava HR Community, Dawn is a regular contributor to our Slack community, answering questions related to everything from DEI to compliance.

We appreciate her insights, but even more than that, we appreciate her willingness to share her immense knowledge with her peers so we can all learn and grow together.