Tatiana Narvaez did not take the traditional path to becoming an HR professional. In fact, the first step on her path to becoming the new Director of HR, North America at PartnerHero was getting a commercial pilot’s license after studying aviation management in undergrad. Her first role upon graduation was in operations management with United Express Carriers. It was in that role as a customer success manager that she found her true calling: encouraging, motivating and developing people to be their best selves and find the next step in their careers.
After finding this calling, Tatiana decided to go back to school to hone her skills in HR. She went to the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, one of the top labor relations/HR management programs in the world. To kick start her career in HR, she joined Johnson & Johnson, which is where she became passionate about core values that actually matter and using HR as a way to not only develop better employees but also to make sure people are happy both in work and in life.
“My time at Johnson & Johnson really shaped my beliefs and my passion for People Experience,” says Tatiana. “That organization really cared about people and people development. One thing that attracts me to PartnerHero is a similar mentality about personal development. Johnson & Johnson put people in situations to challenge them and help them grow by taking them out of their comfort zones just enough to develop new skills and passions and I saw firsthand what a big impact that has on people.”
After two years at the Fortune 500, Tatiana decided to join a medical device startup as employee number four. There, she got to build the entire HR infrastructure. “I’ve worked in organizations where your role is to maintain HR systems that are in place and I’ve also built HR playbooks from scratch.” One of her favorite roles was working at Inventus Power, a multinational company where she oversaw HR for Brazil, Mexico, North America and Europe.
“I loved how dynamic it was to work across cultures. Working with people from all over the world diversifies the way you think and lead.”
Some specific challenges that she loved solving were scaling one of their locations in Mexico from 80 to 500 people, building a people development strategy that worked across cultures and improving company culture. Her next role was at an EdTech startup where she helped shape the culture and people development strategy.
Throughout her career she’s learned a thing or two about the pieces of an amazing company culture. “A successful culture is one that allows for innovation, creativity and has trust in their employees.” The way to build trust? Tatiana says that it is all about relationships. “It doesn’t happen overnight. A leader in any function needs to put in the work to build rapport, trust and credibility with their employees. Relationships and good communication are the key.” She also subscribes to the work hard, play hard school of thought. “We should never forget that we’re professionals but it's important to remember to have some fun while we’re at it.”
Based on her background and passions, Tatiana is excited to join PartnerHero for a lot of reasons but top among them are the global nature of our business and our commitment to core values. “In all my interviews I could feel how important the core values are to each person I spoke with. PartnerHero has respect for everyone - no matter their race, nationality, sexual orientation or role. There is fairness across the board and I could sense that the leadership team cares about each and every person at the company.” Tatiana is also excited to find a company where she can use the tools and skills she’s learned throughout her career and apply them at a company that shares her values.
So how does getting a pilot's license fit into her current career trajectory? “I attribute my being able to stay calm and do good work under pressure to my days training to be a pilot. If I can stay calm in a situation where a plane is going off track and may be at risk of crashing, I can stay calm during anything.”
