PeopleStar  Podcast

Season 2

Bringing In New Players

Posted May 03, 2023

Growing as an organization also means hiring new players and setting the bases for a structure.   Christine Zapata, Vice President of Human Resources & Talent Development for Starplast USA, talks about how she’s building for growth within her organization from an HR standpoint regarding management structure, hiring, and recognition. As Star…

Leading People From Good to Great

Posted Apr 26, 2023

When companies are successful, they have the need to transform to reach new goals.  Mark Mathia, Chief Experience Officer at Signature Performance, discusses why the company decided to split up its HR department into talent acquisition and operations and how success has made them grow. He describes the functions of each new branch within ta…

Building Company Culture in a Hybrid Context

Posted Apr 19, 2023

Company Culture has transformed in recent years, and employee engagement is at the forefront right now.  In this episode, Jen Weinberg, Talent and Culture Manager at Conifer Research, talks about how routines, meetings, and positive feedback loops create a consistent, proactive culture at the organization’s different events in its hybrid co…

Handling Layoffs

Posted Apr 12, 2023

The offboarding process requires extreme thought and care when an organization goes through layoffs. Steve Lovig, Director of Human Resources for Homestar Financial, says that when it comes to managing layoffs and offboarding, approaching the impacted individuals from a human-empathetic perspective improves the experience. It all starts wit…

Coaching and Partnerships as Part of the HR Practice

Posted Apr 05, 2023

Our careers are a central part of our identity. How can we best find fulfillment and joy in them?  George Sample, Vice President of People & Culture for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, came to share how he impacts the lives of employees working in HR. Coming from a very different background, George found, in HR, a place where he coul…

Connecting HR to HR

Posted Mar 29, 2023

You all know that what we love the most is listening to the HR stories people have to tell.  In this episode of the PeopleStar Podcast, we welcome Adam Nierenberg, Human Resources Director at The Singelyn Group, to share his insights about connecting people inside our industry. As HR professionals, we all share one gift: the power to connec…

Employee Engagement and Candidate Experience

Posted Mar 22, 2023

People working in HR may come from various life paths, and all that experience makes them great.    Jacara Powers has been working in HR for the last 11 years after coincidentally falling into it, and she’s here to share some of her experiences in our field. Without knowing anything about healthcare rather than what happens in Grey’s Anatom…

Season 1

Embracing Diversity and Purpose

Posted Dec 28, 2022

Let’s chat about HR without talking about HR – with Michael Saterman.  Today’s conversation is an unusual but incredible one. HR has many points of view, and today’s guest has a pretty specific one that we need to share around a company’s culture and purpose-driven values. Michael Saterman is a Chief Customer Officer and managing partner wo…

Superpowers: Getting to Know and Assess People

Posted Dec 21, 2022

HR has and will continue to evolve through time, and people will always talk about what makes them proud; it’s just a matter of asking.  Today’s guest knows how to use his superpower: assessing people. Neil Katz has incredible experience working with C-Suite executives in different industries and is here to share his two cents on how to kno…

Bridging Generational Gaps Through Mentoring

Posted Dec 14, 2022

Leadership is a two-sided growth highway: for both the employee and the employer.  Today’s guest found the perfect way to merge HR and healthcare through his positions developing businesses and strategy; we welcome Geoffrey Roche to the PeopleStar Podcast! He climbed the corporate ladder quickly and started having older individuals report t…

It All Comes Down To People

Posted Dec 07, 2022

Let’s bring someone with great experience in leadership and management… from another industry – Ted Turner! This episode of the PeopleStar podcast features the incredible Ted Turner, who has managed multimillion-dollar contracts and projects and helps people become their best selves. In the end, the industry doesn’t matter; it all comes do…

Forgiveness As A Leadership Skill

Posted Nov 30, 2022

What do forgiveness and good gossip mean in the workplace? This is a question that Dr. Shawne Duperon has asked herself in all the work she’s done with organizations, universities, entrepreneurs, and more. With a background in television, Dr. Shawne started her own business to help people better communicate with the world and learn to for…

The Only Way To Fail Is Just To Quit

Posted Nov 23, 2022

The workplace has definitely changed for women. Now it’s our time to grab the bull by the horns!  In this episode of the PeopleStar Podcast, we have a delightful conversation with a woman who is incredibly courageous in her career, the one and only Rawan Aldobai. Rawan is the owner of a consulting company that helps others, especially women…

Building a Culture of Belonging

Posted Nov 16, 2022

Sometimes accidents lead to new and exciting roads where growth awaits you.  Nettie Nitzberg ended up in entrepreneurship out of the blue, but she found there the space to challenge herself and grow both professionally and personally. After some rough times of not getting a stable job, Nettie adventured into consulting and has worked in the…

Courageous Decisions

Posted Nov 09, 2022

Sometimes life unfolds in very mysterious ways, always leading us to where we need to be.  Theresa Forgét has had so many life experiences that brought her to be a top-notch HR leader in the healthcare industry. She ended up as the Executive Director of Human Resources at Howard County General Hospital after working in several hospital syst…

Sensing the Need to Transform

Posted Nov 02, 2022

Many companies want to transform today, but what does that mean?  We have the honor of discussing this topic with Corinne Murray, founder and chief strategist of Agate Studio and consultant for many organizations. The workplace has suffered one of the most significant impacts ever during the COVID pandemic and in the last three years, and t…

HR according to Data Insights

Posted Oct 26, 2022

We need to talk about data and how it affects and gives insights into HR.  This week’s guest is our very own Rebeca Kling, part of our team as product manager for Insights at Trakstar! HR’s role has changed significantly during the past decade, and implementing data is now a crucial part of our roles for the organization’s well-being. Throu…

Another Look at Compensation

Posted Oct 19, 2022

Let’s talk about architecture and employee compensation within a company! Our guest in this episode is James Griffin, CEO of a fast-growing consulting firm that develops custom software for health tech companies called Invene. James starts the conversation by sharing his thoughts on compensation and the two types of models they work with.…

Thoughts on Growing A Business From Its Culture

Posted Oct 12, 2022

How do you transform a company and show them the way to success?  This is what this week’s guest has been down to for the last 25 years, we have the honor of having Bill Goodwin over on the show. He was most recently the CEO of MeMD, which got acquired by Walmart Health. Bill shares how he joins companies, gets them to a healthy growth rate…

Leading With Emotional Intelligence

Posted Oct 05, 2022

To lead others, one must first learn how to lead oneself. Dr. Karen Semien-McBride has an impressive background in leadership and management, and one book changed the course of her education and career: Daniel Goleman’s Working with Emotional Intelligence. From working as a manager at Taco Bell at a young age, all the way to being the CEO…

Leading From Wherever You Are

Posted Aug 10, 2022

Most people need to learn to be more strategic in work and life.  Asia Bribiesca-Hedin is our guest for this episode of the PeopleStar Podcast. Asia is a fantastic HR professional and coach whose passion lies in helping others become more strategic and better decision-makers. From a young age, Asia learned how to be strategic about her life…

Making Success an Adventure

Posted Aug 03, 2022

Life will be challenging; there’s no doubt about that; it’s how you meet those challenges that make the difference, according to Sherry Winn. This PeopleStar episode is extraordinary, as we are honored to have Olympian, athlete, coach, author, and leader, Sherry Winn as a guest. She recognizes that what matters in life is not the achievemen…

Starting an HR Department From Scratch

Posted Jul 27, 2022

Sometimes, you must build the HR department from scratch… and on your own – that’s what Donielle Williams had to do. In this episode of PeopleStar, we have a masterclass about how to do this with Donielle Williams, an HR professional with more than 15 years of experience. She recalls that when she started at this tech company, she was hand…

Seven Leadership Tactics

Posted Jul 20, 2022

Leadership and performance may be two topics that are daunting for many HR managers, especially Karan Rhodes. This episode of PeopleStar features writer, former HR exec, leader, and strategist Karan Rhodes. She left corporate America to pursue another passion within the HR realm: creating a better environment for employees and leaders. Out …

A Guide to HR Practitioners to M&As

Posted Jul 13, 2022

Mergers and Acquisitions are common, yet intricate processes – and Klint Kendrick knows all about it. Klint Kendrick, an author and expert on mergers and acquisitions with a Ph.D. in organizational leadership, talks about what he considers the five key drivers of culture clash in a merger and acquisition process. He establishes a definition…

A Human-Centered Strategy for HR

Posted Jul 06, 2022

There are three topics that organizations are now focusing on: change management, employee experience, and employee engagement – and Alicia Vallarta worked on these before they were mainstream. Our guest always had a human-centered approach to business. At United Minds, they help other organizations be aware of employee engagement, feedback…

Making No Assumptions: a fresh POV to HR.

Posted Jun 29, 2022

John Carlson is a protector of Filtrous’ company culture. But wait, what does that really mean?  Instead of changing the company culture when he first entered Filtrous, John decided to recognize it and define it. If HR managers took the time to listen to their employees, their culture would be entirely different. John shares how he’s buildi…

Eating The Elephant, One Bite at a Time

Posted Jun 15, 2022

Life, and especially work in HR, is like a marathon: you train for it every day. In this week’s episode, Julie talks to Megan Bickle about life in Human Resources. Megan Bickle, an avid runner, and an incredible HR professional, joins us to discuss organizational engagement and culture.  Her first advice when it comes to work is to break do…

About Collective Experiences in the HR Space

Posted Jun 08, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way everyone approached their work, but mostly for HR professionals who had to find new ways to keep their people engaged.  Alison Jeske is a friend of the house that has worked with our host Julie in the past. She is also a great HR professional whose passion lies in an organization’s greatest asset: its p…

Finding The Perfect Match

Posted Jun 01, 2022

Join Julie and Rob Studivan as they talk all things recruiting and hiring. Matching an ideal candidate with a perfect position and team can be a titanic task in today’s world. We discuss this topic (and more) with Rob Studivan, a senior recruiter and HR professional from the healthcare sector. Matching an ideal candidate with the perfect r…

Changing the Mindset on Routines

Posted May 25, 2022

This episode with Eric Weber is full of the juxtaposition of roles and backgrounds. We had the honor of having Eric Weber, an HR professional who has worked with America’s biggest companies. He reflects on his job in the army with a story he frequently remembers whenever he feels stuck. Routines can be fun and adventurous, it’s all about t…

Changing Lives From an HR Perspective

Posted May 04, 2022

When people are motivated to go to work, everything else flows successfully. Aysha Alawadhi is a person that loves HR through and through, and we are incredibly honored to have her on the PeopleStar Podcast. With several diplomas under her belt, Aysha reckons that her life-long mentor taught her that lives are changed when people are happy …

Transferring Skills From Sports to Life & Work

Posted Apr 27, 2022

There is a direct connection between leading and sports! This episode’s guest is Jeff Lukich, a man who retired to coach endurance athletes after working in child welfare and State Government in Georgia for more than 30 years. Jeff reflects on the parallels between teams in sports and work, and how leaders can transfer skills from one to t…

Emotional Intelligence and HR

Posted Apr 20, 2022

We are on a streak of women leaders in HR with today’s guest, the incredible Dr. Ruby Bakshi Khurdi, a multitasking supermom, educationist, author, TEDx speaker, and HR specialist. With a background of 12 years as an academic dean specializing in marketing and communications and HR, Ruby has a lot to say about the current environment around…

Change: The Way To Success

Posted Apr 13, 2022

Today’s episode features an incredible businesswoman and entrepreneur, the founder and CEO of Ladybugz Interactive Agency, the amazing Lysa Miller.  Lysa is a rounded entrepreneur, who during the pandemic to ventured out to start a digital agency and solve the evolving needs that the workforce and clients might have. All through the intervi…

Building A Business from the Ground Up with Glenn Martin

Posted Apr 06, 2022

Today’s episode features a very special guest for Trakstar, our founder, former VP of Sales, and Julie Rieken’s father, the one and only Glenn Martin! Today’s conversation centers all around the foundation of Trakstar and the lessons learned along the way. With a background in electrical engineering, Glenn quickly moved from hardware to sof…

Keeping Your People Motivated

Posted Mar 30, 2022

We welcome Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains, to this episode of the PeopleStar Podcast in which he reflects on the different types of leaders and how it affects people. Gary shares with us how the company has been growing in its number of employees, how they incentivize their workforce, and how they’ve been self-sufficient recently. He loves…

The Ever-Changing Workforce and How To Handle It

Posted Mar 23, 2022

Kirby Scott Ingles came over to the PeopleStar Podcast to share his wisdom regarding leadership and coaching. Throughout his career, Kirby has worked with a lot of people and has heard and seen the changes in the workforce. During the pandemic, a lot of people were laid off and now that things have stabilized a bit, employees are truly ques…

Becoming a Leader in the HR Space

Posted Mar 16, 2022

This episode’s guest has an incredible career as an HR leader. We welcome Tony Perlingieri, the Chief Human Resources Officer and Chief HR Consultant for AWP Consulting LLC. Julie and Tony talked about some big topics, and through the episode, they develop their thoughts and ideas about the types of leaders we can find in HR today. Tony gi…

Accountability: A "Must" Skill Needed in Today's Leaders

Posted Mar 09, 2022

Tommy Breedlove, a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author came over to the PeopleStar Podcast to share his view on leadership and accountability, among other topics. He got his favorite piece of advice from a river rafting guide and it is all about participating in your own rescue. Taking care of ourselves will ultimately hel…

How To Create Culture

Posted Mar 02, 2022

There’s never been a better time to talk about company culture than right now! Due to the pandemic, the culture of a lot of companies has risen up and changed. Tony Chatman, this episode’s guest, is a fixer of cultures. Through his work, he helps companies take their teams to the next level. As a speaker and leader, he walks teams through t…

Reflecting on Hobbies for Team Leadership

Posted Feb 23, 2022

We’ve seen how conventional hobbies can teach you things like leadership and teamwork. Today’s guest’s hobby is riding motorcycles! Steven Foster reflects on how his hobby taught him how a company should work, just like a motorcycle club: all in sync. He also touches base on sustainability in the workplace, a company’s greatest asset, and t…

A Full-Circle Moment: From Start-Ups to Big Companies and Back

Posted Feb 16, 2022

In this week’s episode of the PeopleStar Podcast, our guest went from managing a start-up, to growing it to a big company, and then back to the start-up field! Tony Perez is here to share his two cents on leadership and companies thanks to his experience on Sucuri (which then exited to GoDaddy), and right now he is back working with two sta…

Episode 12: From Employment Law to Team Building

Posted Feb 09, 2022

Colin Walker, an employment lawyer, has dedicated his life to building teams. He finds his team’s strengths and differences and uses them to boost their work. His first advice is to gather people that don’t have the same skill sets. Leaders learn over time to organize their individuals to the tasks that suit their strengths. Colin reflects …

Episode 11: Leadership and Good Public Relations

Posted Feb 02, 2022

Rob Belcher understands the difference between borrowing and selling equity. His journey has been a circuitous, but interesting one. Rob has a clear understanding of himself as an extrovert, a trait that enhances his leadership. He also shares how important it is to be a leader with interpersonal skills to build relationships. What does tha…

Episode 10: High-performance Skills: How to Identify Them and Impulse Your Team

Posted Jan 26, 2022

This episode’s guest is all about bringing the high-performance skills individuals have into the light. Wade Thomas has over 20 years of experience in this field and accepts that what really excites him is developing talent and watching careers take off. His philosophy towards work and life is based on empathy and compassion, and that start…

Episode 9: The Merge of Two Company Cultures

Posted Jan 19, 2022

During all of his journey in the business, Brian Biddulph-Krentar didn’t know he wanted to be an entrepreneur. In this episode, you will listen to his overall trajectory, from his early jobs to building companies and then selling them. He talks about how a leader must set a precedent for the rest of the company, how to create a culture of s…

Episode 8: Sports and Business Aren't That Far

Posted Jan 12, 2022

Gabe Miller has had a very non-traditional way of surfing through life! To get to where he is today, Gabe followed a few different routes, including pre-med, chemistry, biology, and finally microeconomics. In this week’s episode, he reflects on how his support system growing up helped him jump from one thing to another with ease. As a sport…

Episode 7: About Rainbow Unicorns and How To Find Them

Posted Jan 05, 2022

Philip Soffer joins PeopleStar and discusses why finding the best teammates can be so difficult, but why it is worth it for leaders to push through to find the Rainbow Unicorns. Phil’s working culture begins with the belief that efficiency is more important than accuracy and that breaking out of one’s comfort zone is necessary for growth. H…

Episode 6: Establishing Company Culture with Galen Emanuele

Posted Dec 16, 2021

Galen Emanuele joins PeopleStar as a master at creating company culture. This incredible guest shares his experiences working in this field and connecting the dots with several transferable skills. With a background in acting and improv, Galen started seeing how this could be applied to his business and other companies. That is why he now h…

Episode 5: Fishing Your People with Jake Norris

Posted Dec 08, 2021

Jake Norris came over to the PeopleStar Podcast to share how his hobby has taught him to be a better leader! In fishing, Jake has found a parallel to understanding business. In each, you have to have a mission and you have to follow a series of steps to make things perfect. Jake Norris is a Recruiting and Staffing Industry veteran and found…

Episode 4: Performance and Scaling Your Team with Randy Lambert

Posted Dec 01, 2021

Today’s guest knows how to be a leader in a large organization! Randy Lambert, from Orion, came over to share his lessons on scaling. He accepts that leaders must learn how to scale and trust people to help them grow. Randy recognized there are three main behaviors in scaling. The first is a recruiting mindset based on bringing in and retai…

Episode 3: Choosing the Right People to Work With with Ferruh Mavituna

Posted Nov 27, 2021

Ferruh’s superpower is empathy. As the sole founder of Invicti Security, Ferruh has been in every single position inside the company. By working on the different departments, Ferruh developed empathy for and with his team. He understands their needs and their desires. He also learned how to choose the right people for the right positions i…

Episode 2: Finding Needles in a Haystack with Don Golden

Posted Nov 17, 2021

Don Golden looks for needles in a haystack all through the day! At Precision Sample, Don and his team do market research for other companies across all industries. He gives an example of his routines whenever he’s hiring people. Don also shares how he ended up in the research industry. He acknowledges the danger it can be when a client rep…

Episode 1: The Importance of Safety at Work with Tony York

Posted Nov 10, 2021

Safety is this guest’s top priority! Tony York trains his people to have empathy and always think about the safety of others in their environments. He knows how important it has been for him to always reflect on the decisions he has made. Another important thing Tony mentions is the power of collaboration. Don’t miss Tony’s advice on hiring…

The PeopleStar Podcast powered by Trakstar

Posted Nov 02, 2021

Welcome to the PeopleStar Podcast! In this premiere episode, our host, Julie Rieken walks us through what we are all about here on the PeopleStar Podcast. We want to deliver solutions and advice to HR’s newest challenges, oldest ongoing problems, and emerging trends. Every week, we do this by asking industry leaders about their experiences…

About PeopleStar

Here, you will find the best conversations about human resources, leading people, and changing the way we think about managing workforces.

We will have guests from across the industry who will give their advice and use their experiences to answer questions about leadership, employee engagement, organizational development, and creating and establishing a workflow that increases employee performance.

There four main branches our HR podcast covers include:

• People
• Architecture
• Routines
• Culture

Each episode features a different topic focusing on leading people in today’s world. When you click through to each episode, you can find more information about the guest, additional resources for HR professionals to use, and other insights from Trakstar.

Listen here, or anywhere you find the best podcasts for HR professionals.