Real organizational situations. Where things stood at the start and where they stood when the work was done.
This organization had been hiring for accolades and pedigree rather than startup aptitude. The result was a leadership layer that looked impressive on paper but had never operated in an environment that required speed, ambiguity, or resourcefulness. By the time I joined as the first Head of People with genuine startup experience, the organization had accumulated structural debt — roles that had expanded beyond their original scope, performance expectations that had never been defined clearly, and a culture that was beginning to fracture under growth pressure it wasn't built to handle.
The work was diagnostic first. I assessed where the real performance gaps were and separated talent issues from structural ones. Then I rebuilt the operating foundation: a goal framework the organization could actually execute against, a performance infrastructure with clear accountability, and a hiring process calibrated to startup stage rather than brand recognition. Internally, I worked directly with leadership to shift how decisions got made and how people were developed and held accountable.
This was a seed-stage media company operating at the intersection of Web3, AI, and crypto — running live events at Art Basel and NFT Week in New York while simultaneously trying to build editorial infrastructure and grow a team. The founder was first-time. The leadership team was passionate, talented, and volatile. There was no operating cadence, no goal tracking, no decision-making framework, and no People function of any kind. Energy was everywhere. Execution was inconsistent. The business was moving on conviction alone.
I came in as the first Chief of Staff and Head of People the company had ever hired. The first job was to create enough structure that the organization could actually sustain its own momentum. I built the operating cadence from scratch — how leadership met, how decisions got made, how priorities were set and tracked. I introduced goal frameworks that gave the team something to execute against. I built the People function, the hiring process, and the onboarding infrastructure. And I worked directly alongside the founder to develop the leadership clarity and organizational discipline that a first-time founder navigating that pace of growth genuinely needed.
A publicly traded holding company on the Nasdaq acquired a talent and influencer agency into its existing media arm. The logic was sound. The execution was not. Two organizations with distinct cultures, operating systems, and leadership structures had been brought together without a framework for how they would actually function as one. The result was predictable: duplicated effort, unclear reporting lines, leadership friction, and an organization that was nominally merged but operationally still two separate businesses pulling in different directions.
As Deputy Chief of Staff and Head of Operations, I was embedded in the holding company during this period and took on the integration directly. I assessed where the friction was concentrated, mapped the decision-making gaps, and built the integration framework that allowed the combined organization to begin functioning coherently. That meant clarifying ownership across both entities, establishing shared operating rhythms, resolving the leadership dynamics that were creating the most drag, and building the communication infrastructure that allowed the organization to move as a single unit. The holding company was later delisted from the Nasdaq — but not before the integration work created the organizational clarity required for the business to operate at that scale.
"Tarol served as my Chief of Staff and Head of HR during a critical growth period for the company. She is strategic, trustworthy, and fiercely loyal. I relied on her judgment across people, operations, and culture, and she consistently brought clarity and stability to the organization."
Alejandro NaviaFounder & Entrepreneur
"Tarol has a rare ability to see operational and leadership issues before they become expensive problems. She helped us quickly identify gaps in accountability, decision-making, and team alignment that were slowing execution across the company. What impressed me most was her judgment. She's thoughtful, direct, highly strategic, and operates with a level of maturity that's difficult to find."
D.R.Former Managing Director, Global Investment Firm
"We brought Tarol in during a period of rapid growth when the business started feeling operationally heavy. Within weeks, she helped create more clarity across leadership, improved communication, and brought structure to areas that had become reactive. She combines strategic thinking with emotional intelligence in a way that made our entire leadership team stronger."
M.C.Founder, Beauty & Wellness Brand
"Tarol is one of the few operators I've worked with who can move between strategy, people, and execution seamlessly. She brings calm to high-pressure environments, asks the right questions, and gets to the root of problems quickly. She became a trusted thought partner almost immediately."
J.T.CEO, Consumer Brand
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