Building with Purpose: Stephanie Reese on Entrepreneurship, AI & Mission-Driven Growth

speaker-0: there are going to be days that are hard and days where, so many things that you're juggling at once. But at the end of the day, it is yours and it will thrive because you will thrive and it will grow because you grow as a person,

speaker-1: Hey everyone. My name is Carmen Durvad, and this is Behind the Founders. And here I am today talking to Stephanie Reese. Stephanie, welcome. Can you introduce yourself?

speaker-0: Hi, Carmen. I am so excited to be here. Thank you so much for bringing me on. My name is Stephanie Reese and I am the founder of Hire in Thread. I actually have spent over 12 years working in nonprofit mission-driven organizations. And I started my business hiring thread basically because I saw incredible people doing incredible work. I mean, mission-driven organizations have some of the smartest people that you will want to work with. but I felt as though there were opportunities to provide a lot more support around things like hiring, their systems that they were using, the organization, you know, the organizational structure itself. And you know, my focus has always been like systems, I'm a systems nerd. And so I decided to start higher in thread with you know that that passion to to make a different, make an impact that you see in most. mission driven organizations. And so yeah, I'm just really really excited and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to start it, which I did back in 2025. my goodness gracious, so much time has flown. but yeah no it's I'm I'm just really I I feel like the what I do high with higher and thread has really given me so many opportunities to really support Mission driven organizations, which at the end of the day is something that really I'm I'm really passionate about and I'm excited to talk with you about today.

speaker-1: Yeah, I'm also very excited to talk to you too because I have had the chance to take a look at your LinkedIn profile and I see that the both of us here, we both come from a very HR talent strategic background as well. So always excited to you know talk from one HR person to another too. So I do have quite a few questions actually that and I don't even know where to start, but I guess my first question would be so you have been working in nonprofits. You were working you know, across different organizations as a senior HR business partner, HR manager, everything along that field. And what made you decide to take that leap of faith and start something of your own with higher end thread?

speaker-0: Right. So, you know, I have been in HR for so many years. And as I had, you know, had mentioned in, you know, a little bit ago about what drove me to start higher in thread, just the opportunity to give back and and support mission driven organizations in a way that brought value and would, you know, put would make an impact for the team members that were doing the work every day. one thing That you don't find in short supply in mission-driven organizations is passion. You know, they wake up ready to do the work. But sometimes you'll find in in organizations that the work is happening, but the systems that were that are there don't necessarily give them the best opportunities to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness. And I made the leap from HR. After I, you know, I was a director focusing on operations. And so I felt like I could marry the two operations in HR and really support organizations in building stronger systems to help their teams work more effectively. And since since 2025, I've been working with numerous leaders on doing just that. And it wasn't so much of a leap because I had several people that, you know, I partnered with several people and they would ask me to, you know, give them advice. So it's more of just a a smooth transition. I would say it's less of a leap, more of a smooth transition into that space.

speaker-1: so from your experiences working in HR roles as an HR business partner, what were the some what are some of the most common challenges that you have noticed that you're trying to solve right now?

speaker-0: Right. you know, one of the biggest challenges that I've seen across not just mission-driven organizations, just I mean or organizations as a whole, is just capacity. You have people working in various roles and because there's other technologies and tools that are coming in and you know, I guess changing the way work is generally being done. And so what that means is people have to either step up and do more, or they'll step back and again do less. And so the organization is floundering. And so capacity issue has been one of the biggest challenges I've seen within organizations. And the best way to address that and what higher end thread works to do is by helping organizations prioritize the work, understand the systems that can best support. The work and then make sure that that change management happens throughout so that team members have a clear understanding of how to use the systems, the approval processes, you know, the the steps to effectively, you know, utilize that tool and resource in a way that makes the work easier for them. And that's been that's my goal, is and that's my that's the challenge I like to solve is making the work easier. So then our team members are no longer at capacity and our team members are are excited to do the work. They feel emboldened to do the work.

speaker-1: Yeah, absolutely for sure. So when we talk about capacity, why do you think that is that there's a lot of struggle that because even myself, I have seen it too, right? I have worked across startups, large scale organizations, and it seems to be like a recurring challenge as well in terms of capacity, whether it's the whether the roles are not really well defined or whether it's the process, decision making, everything like that, which kind of slows down a lot of the process and productivity as well. Where do you think All of this is rooted from.

speaker-0: I think it's rooted in you know, you know, I think it's rooted in several different things. I think I can think of, you know, two off the top of my head. one is people are doing the work and leadership has an understanding of of the priorities and the things that need to be done, but it hasn't quite trickled down to the team members that are actually doing that work, right? And so that's one thing that I've noticed can affect. how people are prioritizing and getting work done. And then you hit the nail on the head when you were talking about role clarity. Like, you know, you when you're in an organization and you see work needs to be done, most people want to do a good job. And so they're going to step up and step in and take over work that they may not be responsible for to help out, but they don't necessarily know how the processes are done. And so they figure out workarounds. They figure out ways to like, I guess I'm using all these fun terms, jerry rig process and get it through the door, but that's not necessarily not necessarily the right way to do things and that can actually cause more bottlenecks at the end of the day. And so those are two things that I've seen that actually affect how work is happening within with an organization and how effective it is for for someone in in this in that space. So I would say those are some of the two areas I've noticed.

speaker-1: Yeah, I think at the end of the day, right, leadership is extremely crucial as well. They also need to be able to have this, especially like in bigger organizations. I feel like that's where a lot of things get lost in translation. And that's where, you know, there's a lot of uncertainty how you navigate, you know, what needs to get done, how are people doing it? And I think it's so essential to somehow find a way to like bridge that gap as well, especially like in the leadership positions as well as with the other people and the team setup as well. so Stephanie, I'd love to hear and learn a little bit more about Higher and Thread. If you could share with the audience, for people who don't have a background from HR or who have never heard of Higher and Thread, what is it that you mainly help people do?

speaker-0: So I will say when I first started out, I started higher in thread with the idea of providing, I guess, talent acquisition support, recruitment. I did HR consulting, as I mentioned, and executive sourcing. But as you know, as my passions continue to evolve and and I was still working as a director of operations at that time. I segued more so into organizational design and strategic workforce planning and change management support so that organizations had someone that already had been through it all. I was in charge of implementing implementing so many systems throughout my my career that I really understand all the pain points that organizations face when they are implementing any kind of big initiative or change. And that was really what drove me to to hire in thread was literally just, you know, wanting to just I'm very people centric. I'm very, very people centered. And I want to make sure that again, people have those tools, have the resources, have the systems that they need in place to do the work. And that's that's my drive behind higher and thread.

speaker-1: Yeah, okay. And you mentioned that you really want to help a lot of mission-driven organizations. Could you share with the listeners out there what kind of what types of mission-driven organizations, industries have you worked with, whether it's remote or in person, which countries?

speaker-0: Yeah, so I've worked with several mission-driven organizations. there's one that in particular that I'm I I just recently stopped working with, amazing organization that focused on workforce I guess you would call it workforce development and helping people strategize and prepare to enter the workforce. and so I helped with creating some of the baseline foundational systems to streamline like how they were integrating people into their programs, how they were reaching out to those individuals, also who was responsible for which, of course, clarifying the roles and responsibilities within the organization. And just making sure and working as a thought partner on how best to continue to scale and grow the organization.

speaker-1: Okay. now that we're talking about scale and growth, tell us a little bit about your team setup, who is doing what, how does it look like?

speaker-0: I don't have a big organization. It's so funny you asked that because I think people believe I have a huge organization. I have a team of three people. I have myself. I'm basically the driver. I have a business developer who works on outreach. And then I literally just have someone helps me with technology my technology like issues, you know, that I outsource every now and then. but the bulk of the work is driven by me, which I I the networking I enjoy. the outreach to different clients is done by my by my BD, but I am the person who gets to meet with them and and and talk about all the work that Higher and Thread does. But my goal in the next few months honestly is to bring on additional consultants that can support this work in the next few, you know, and and help this this. help us grow and and reach more mission driven organizations. So I'm really excited about that that future projection.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, I can imagine as well. Always really excited to work with other people, networking and also bring on more people on board too. So with these consultants, would you say those are some of the things that you're doing right now where you're doing a lot of outreach, networking, or what is it that you have in mind that they're planning to do?

speaker-0: Well, I do, you know, I do all of the networking. I don't necessarily do the initial outreach. I come in after the initial outreach and the conversation has begun. but what I'm looking for are consultants that can help support the work as we are bringing in more clients. and and and have an understanding of systems that can that can so that can speak with leaders and advise on how to solve issues within the organization as far as work being done. are the organizational structure not not being what it what it should be and providing guidance on succession planning and and all of those things that organizations have to think about that I feel over the past year or so with the onslaught of AI, they are just not even thinking about that and really focusing on the AI monster that has just taken over everything. It's like no, we still have an organization here.

speaker-1: Like, yeah. Yes, yes.

speaker-0: is definitely a fun tool to to get you the absolute your cue. There are other things that that we also have to consider. And so yeah, I think people who can have those hard conversations would be huge assets to my organization.

speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Obviously AI is, you know, is a very has become like the new, I would say, Microsoft Office tool, right? Everybody needs to learn about it, everybody's talking about it, but at the end of the day, we still need to have that the humanistic touch to whether it's like in the business and so on and so forth. Now that we're talking about AI, yeah, let's talk about it more. What are your thoughts on AI in general?

speaker-0: Exactly. Well, I so I have honestly I've I've looked at this from so many different angles. because it has evolved so quickly. A year ago it was just a small part of the conversation. And I remember a lot of organizations just being hesitant about even taking it on. And in mission driven or in in mission driven organizations, particularly the ones I work for, which were very much so environmentally focused, it was a non you know, started you didn't talk about AI, you didn't mention AI. but you know, I think as people as as you know, time has progressed, people are beginning to realize AI isn't going away. And what as putting my HR hat back on, what s concerns me for organizations that still don't want to address the fact that AI is is is a tool and a resource that is one almost free, practically free, is 20 bucks a month. And there are no regulations on it right now. If they're not not willing to provide guidance to their team members, to their the people working in the organization on how best to use it, the risk that that will cause and the potential the potential risk that of of sensitive information being passed or spread or are inadvertently shared where it shouldn't be is such a big concern. And so I I you know I have a bit of frustration in that regard when it comes to organizations that are not really paying any that not they're paying attention but they don't want to acknowledge it. And then you have the reverse of organizations who are really doing a smart job of implementing it into their systems, integrating it in such a way that it's actually supporting the work, they're not letting go of people, but they're teaching their team their people how to use it more effectively. And that is that I think will be the differentiator between organizations that are able to like grow and scale and use this tool effectively and in organizations who may not be able to keep up in the way that allows them to be competitive. And so I think that's those are some of my my main concerns with AI. And I think it is a a really good tool and it shouldn't be thought of as more than that. It can't replace humans. I don't think it just it just can't. For sure.

speaker-1: So you mentioned that, you know, either people are really resistant or not so open to the idea of utilizing AEI. And then there's of course people that are able to make it really work where they're able to find the balance of optimizing processes and systems while still being able to balance out the creativity, the human interaction, and everything like that. Do you also feel like they're Are some situations that you've seen where there is an over dependency or they heavily rely on AI so much to the point that probably they get into the overthinking mode, or maybe it basically it hinders the critical thinking. What are your thoughts on that? Have you seen that, witnessed that?

speaker-0: So yes, I have seen many people, not just organizations who are using AI. some are using it very, very successfully. And there are others who are using it I for lack of a better word, I'll say carelessly without putting in the the necessary prompts to get real valid information and then not checking their work. It It causes so many, so much issues, I think in the long run when people are using a tool without the training behind it. And I think there has to be more support for people just as a whole to have access to those trainings or even small little snippets. And I again I know that there are tons of YouTube videos. There are tons of like there are tons of resources. Yeah, yeah. But no you don't really know what are the right ones to use. And so I think just having having a a better a better resource for people who are using AI to understand what it means, the risks, what information you're when you put stuff into AI, it is open. It's going everywhere. And you have to be comfortable with that. And I I I think that's you asked me if if I'm seeing you know issues with people using AI and to me, the it not being regulated in the way it should is gonna be the biggest issue, I think, down the road because there's just so much information that everyone is putting into it. My son. uses chat gpt and who knows what he's saying. He's 10. He's 10. really? Wow. Who knows what he's asking chat GPT? I'm not I do know I'm just you know I'm people have access is the point I'm trying to make. Yeah. And this that is a lot of information going into I think there's like 10 maybe top AIs out there that people use regularly. So I mean that's a lot of information. I think people should be cautious.

speaker-1: Right. Sure, for sure. I think you made a really good point about providing the right training how to navigate these AI tools because as mentioned, when used correctly, it could be something really good for organizations, for even beyond the business as well. But when people start to abuse it, then there's a lot of danger to that as well, where AI actually couldn't be necessarily that safe too. So in your business with higher end threat. How are you thinking about AI within your business? Are you implementing certain things using AI? How does that work?

speaker-0: So I've gone through several trainings of for AI. I I'm Claude certified. I'm actually trying to do the whenever I find time. The newest Claude, and I have it up as we speak. I'm gonna see which it's called the Certified Associate. I'm going to go for that in the next couple of weeks. So yes, I am very much into utilizing AI, but As I mentioned with my previous example, it's really important to have I guess guidelines and guard wells in place so that it doesn't take over your voice. You have to still go back in and edit and review what what Chat GPT or Claude or whatever AI you're using, what it's saying and make sure that it's accurate. Please just check the accuracy, accuracy of the information that you're putting out. It can make you anything and it wants to make anything for you. But there is a point where we have to be responsible for the information that we're putting out. And when AI, I I know you remember this, Carmen, when AI first came out, like all the crazy AI like videos and and content and and books, like it was just a mess. And so I think now we're beginning to see a small shift where people are like, no, we have to be responsible. We have to be good stewards here.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's I I definitely see that shift as well. I think at the beginning everybody was kind of like getting carried away, getting really excited about AI, you know. Also, like I I don't even know how it is now in school or when people go to college, how how they would study and things like that. And it's just so different before AI even existed. So I think it's it there is definitely a shift, and I have slowly noticed time and time again, even like speaking. having conversations with people, friends, or other friends who are running their businesses as well, that they're slowly seeing that is so important to have that humanistic element as well and not have a very heavy reliance with everything communicating with via AI or everything like that.

speaker-0: And i I feel sorry for anybody who had to be a teacher or do any of the kind of work where you had to look at things that people were were handing in papers or or professional c opinions, because I felt like a year or so ago, people were just putting out everything AI. And there are dashes everywhere. Like InstaDash thing.

speaker-1: It's always a fashion that you can tell that it's AI.

speaker-0: Yes. And I'm gonna say something. I used AM BM dashes before AI and now I can't use them. I'm so mad about it.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. You know, it's really interesting because I remember I once came across a post on LinkedIn and somebody was kind of making a point that I feel like I need to downgrade the quality of my writing just to prove to the world that I'm not writing an AI. And it's really frustrating because some people they write in a very, very eloquent, articulate way, but now they feel the need to make their writing worse just so that it doesn't sound AI, which is crazy.

speaker-0: I used to use weather. I can't use weather anymore. I used to love insure. I can't use insure anymore. So yeah, no, that that's a real problem. And you know, when in in what I what what I do as at higher end thread, we also help source. Like we used to do like talent acquisition and resumes. Like that was such a big, I guess, a big change when AI came about because so many people were just using AI to put out resumes. And you're like looking at someone's resume that looks the exact same as you know another person's. You're like, how is this the exact same resume, but two different people in two different states? And it became really hard. It became very challenging to to assess and grade those accurately. And you know, one thing I I tell people is use AI to improve what you have. Like improve your resume. Absolutely. Improve your writing. But at the end of the day, make sure it's your voice. Make sure it's your work. Make sure that it's representing who you are. Because it when you show up for your interview and your the person's asking you questions about the resume and you have no clue what they're talking about, that's gonna be a problem. You can't fake that. Yeah. AI has made things easier in one way.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah.

speaker-0: And it's also made it harder in other ways. but I would love to see a shift away from so much AI as far as like assessing people and I think that's that's that I I honestly do not like AI interviewing at all.

speaker-1: Yeah, yeah, that that that's crazy. That's like on another level as well. They also get like an AI avatar to interview. I've seen some funny videos about that, but yeah, yeah, definitely not for sure. I mean, of course, sometimes it with AI can be very helpful in terms of organizing the systems and the ATS and all the way around that. But when it comes to interviewing and evaluating meeting the candidates, it's always gotta be like with the you know the human interaction as well, right? There's a lot of things that that

speaker-0: Not a fan.

speaker-1: A recruiter, a human recruiter can do that an AI recruiter won't be able to do as well with especially with the humanistic traits and the soft skills and so on. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So Stephanie, what are the current challenges that you're facing right now with higher and thread?

speaker-0: Exactly, exactly. I think one of the challenges that I'm facing within higher and thread is just making sure that our our messaging is received in in a way that we want w that we we mean it to be. Like we are an organization that helps support mission-driven organizations from 30 to 300. That is really where where we're trying to focus. And our main objective is to help build those strong foundations that so that they can scale. Like my dream is to work with an organization and then three years from now, instead of 300 people, they have like 5,000 people or more. Like that that is my dream. And to know that we made an impact on any kind of organization like that. that is that's the goal. But it's also right now my challenge. Like how you know communicating that in a way that organizations understand I'm here to help. I I'm honestly, yes, like there is value to the to my knowledge and the work that I do. And this can actually help get you to point B. I think sometimes the it it it it may seem as though, well, you're just doing this for, you know, to make money or what have you. Right. Yes, and And this is actually going to really benefit you at the end of the day because your teams are going to be much more effective at doing the work for your organization and helping achieve the mission of your organization. And at the end of the day, that's what that's what we want. We want to see that change happen. We want to be the change we see in the world, right?

speaker-1: Yeah, beautiful. I love how you really summed it up there that you want to be the changer, you see the world. definitely very impactful and so on. So just like a final question, and this is something that I like to ask every single one of my guests coming on to behind the founders, if there's one advice you would share to someone thinking of starting a business, what would it be?

speaker-0: I would say do it. and know that it's going to be there are going to be days that are hard and days where, you know, there it it is so many things that you're juggling at once. But at the end of the day, it is yours and it's it it you it will thrive because you will thrive and it will grow because you grow as a person, because there's nothing that changes a mind like that kind of of of drive, that kind of passion. So I would say if you are thinking of starting a business for yourself, absolutely do it because you can.

speaker-1: Great. So it's all about believing in yourself. Just do it and take that leap of faith and it's going to pay off. Stephanie, thank you so much again for coming on to Behind the Founders to share what you have been building with Higher End Thread. Thank you so much. It was very lovely speaking with you. This is Behind the Founders. Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode.