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Valerie Lara, SHRM-CP (she/her) provides strategic human resources and operational support as an HR Consultant in the firm’s Outsourcing Division. She prides herself on being a versatile and meticulous leader when spearheading HR projects directly impacting the employee lifecycle. Valerie is well-versed in building HR programs, policies, and processes from the ground up and brings with her a genuine passion for building and maintaining healthy cultures in the workplace.

Valerie has spent much of her career as an HR department of one and proud Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion advocate for fast-growing technology startups. Most recently she served as the Sr. Manager of Total Rewards for Goodwill Central Texas and prior to that, she was the Director of Human Resources at Smarter Sorting, a green-tech start-up in Austin, TX.

Valerie has a BA in Liberal Arts from St. Edward’s University and holds her SHRM-CP through the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). She considers herself to be a life-long learner and recently completed an HR Management Certificate Program at UT Austin’s Center for Professional Education, and has attended over 40 conferences, panels, and workshops covering an array of HR topics.

When she’s not at a conference, Valerie enjoys traveling, gardening, candle-making, watching the latest films, and going to drag shows. She also loves taking advantage of all that Austin has to offer with her loved ones.