Emily White Hodge, PHR

Pronouns

she/her

What do you do as a consultant/coach?

Support HR needs of small & medium nonprofits, so their people can do great work.

What is your approach? 

Mine is an unapologetically people-centered, proactively compassionate, approach to HR. It’s an approach designed to help humans thrive.

How has your experience/background contributed to your work?

In my early years I was surrounded by people . . . lots of people: family, multiple foreign exchange students, friends, my sibling’s college friends, church members, and community members. Everywhere I went, people were always around.

Those people were almost exclusively white.

One summer in high school, I went to an event only about 15 miles away, where I discovered a whole new world. It was a world of people from another culture and a different lived experience.

It was one of those life-shifting moments. A moment in which my eyes were opened a little wider and everything I thought I knew and understood about myself, my family, my country and the world was suddenly called into question.

At that moment I decided I wanted to learn more about other people outside of my little circle – about lives not exactly like my own. And the more I learned the more my eyes were opened to the inequities that I was perpetuating.

So, I dedicated myself to undoing my old ways of thinking and being in the world, the ways I’d been taught were right and true. I committed myself to becoming a welcome home for all people.

While I started out in a career doing direct service with young people, I soon began exploring other ways of serving people – ALL people. I discovered that my deepest calling was in developing systems and processes that helped people, and simultaneously worked for justice.

As I’ve built my own HR practice, I’ve done so with a passionate commitment to making it one that’s rooted in justice – particularly racial justice. Every protocol and system I set up is developed through a lens that centers equity: for BIPOC women in particular. My deepest longing is to leave a more just world for my BIPOC family members & friends. My core belief is that we cannot be loving without working for justice.

Relevant certifications or trainings

PHR: Professional in Human Resources

Sample clients

Highlander Research & Education Center, New York Abortion Access Fund, Apna Ghar, The Coleman Foundation, Family Equality, Un Nuevo Despertar, Freedom to Thrive, NEXT Distro, United African Organization