Celia Balson is a seasoned Human Resources and Recruiting expert who has worked with both startups and notable organizations - UniFirst Corporation, Cars.com, Interior Define, AKG (Automotive Keys Group) - throughout her 10+ years in the field. Celia’s expertise lies in helping companies develop thoughtful and robust HR plans as those companies are engaged in major periods of growth and transition. Early in her career, Celia experienced first-hand how often businesses place HR and recruiting as a secondary need versus a revenue-driving and profitable area of business. Recognizing the need for a consulting firm to assist companies in strategically solving their people puzzles, Celia founded Work Friendly in 2016.

Work Friendly is a female-founded, people-first consulting agency that partners with clients to recruit, retain, and engage the most important aspect of their business, their people. In her current role as CEO of Work Friendly, Celia supports the company’s growing number of agile consultants in providing cost-effective and strategic solutions for companies as small as two people all the way up to Fortune 100 organizations.

Ashley Bernheim has built her sales acumen over the past seven years at a number of start-up organizations. From working in technology sales to making a switch into HR software, Bernheim gained experience in all aspects of the sales lifecycle – and in the process identified her passion for recruiting. She joined the Work Friendly team in 2020 to pursue both of her passions, sales and recruiting, in a fast-paced, innovative organization where she felt she could make a difference. For Bernheim, the beauty of Work Friendly lies in the variety of ways the team can assist any and all HR teams, priding themselves in acting as a true extension of an organization as if they are its own internal resource.

Kelly Fitzgerald joined Work Friendly in July 2021, bringing with her 13 years of professional human resources experience. A proud Michigan State alum, her HR career has involved multiple nationwide hotel acquisitions and ground-up builds, where she was able to hone her multi-state compliance knowledge and build HR infrastructure and/or evolve departments. In her role at Work Friendly, Fitzgerald loves the variety of work, tapping into many of her expanded HR skills, and partnering closely with the team’s amazing clients.

Lauren is an Oklahoma transplant who has been in Chicago now for over eight years.  Lauren has a Bachelors in Psychology from Mercyhurst University and Masters in Community Counseling from Loyola University of Chicago. Lauren began her career in the non-profit mental health field. She transferred her love of helping people to HR and recruitment. Most recently Lauren worked in the Telecom staffing field. Lauren brings experience helping small companies scale their policies as they grow. Outside of work, Lauren loves to run with her two rescue dogs (May & June) and just completed her 4th Chicago Triathalon. Her favorite method of self-care is making homemade pizza with her husband and re-watching Gilmore Girls or Mad Men.

Julie Blomsterberg is a seasoned people leader who brings 16+ years of experience in Recruiting and Human Resources to Work Friendly. Julie has spent the past 6 years of her career focused on consulting and coaching with a strong emphasis on strategic initiatives, change management, recruiting, employee experience, and HR technology. She has partnered with both startups and notable organizations on all things people, and she can find a rainbow in just about any storm.  Julie serves as a knowledge resource to her clients and provides support in a collaborative environment – equipping clients with tools to make empowered decisions. Julie is a Chicago native who lives in the suburbs with her husband, two kids and two spunky small dogs. Outside of work, she enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, traveling, and creating time for self care.

Born and raised in Aurora, Alexis moved to Chicago to attend DePaul University for a Bachelor’s in Business Management and never left. Alexis is the newest addition to the Work Friendly Team. For the past 10 years, Alexis has been rooted in the Human Resources Generalist/Business Partner space. She’s been fortunate to gain experience working in a variety of industries; private equity, hospitality, tech-startup, insurance, marketing, and manufacturing. She’s a native Spanish speaker, which has come in handy when it comes to providing Human Resources support to the diverse workforce in her career. When not working, Alexis is travel hacking, working on her crafts and being a cool landlord. She’s a proud fur mom of an adorable Maltese shitzu mix, Mylo.

Her HR career began in a small restaurant in New York City where she worked for several years after college. The owner recognized her ability to communicate with all levels of staff and to diffuse conflicts when tensions were high. As a result, he asked her to take on the role of HR Generalist. From there her passion for employee relations grew, and she continued her career in HR working at companies ranging in size from 100 to 100,000 employees. In those roles she gained valuable experience in compliance, benefits administration, recruiting, and investigations.

Ife is also passionate about advocating for employees of all abilities. She previously worked at a non-profit organization helping adults with developmental disabilities find and maintain employment. She believes all employees have the potential to be valuable, motivated, and loyal members of the team when given the right support.

Ife loves food, is an admitted sugar addict, and will challenge you to find a better bagel than those from her favorite shop (don’t try, you’ve already lost this challenge!). When she’s not working, Ife also loves to farm and garden. Being from NYC, the opportunities to garden are somewhat limited, but she’s transformed her windowsill into a mini green space, and takes full advantage of opportunities to volunteer at any of the city’s urban farms and dig her hands in the dirt. Ife is an avid supporter of the therapeutic benefits of horticulture and suggests everyone has some green in their workspace to help create a calm and peaceful environment.

Ife is beyond excited to be a part of the Work Friendly team and looks forward to helping guide clients in building strong people operations systems.

Hanna’s journey to HR is rather unconventional. A musician by trade, she began her career as a music educator, while simultaneously serving in the non-profit space, as Lyric Opera’s Manager of Data Analytics + Prospect Research for over 5 years. Hanna discovered that her energy came from all of the people-portions of her roles, whether that was helping a student find their musical confidence, or empowering a colleague to use data for decision making. She made the choice to move her career to HR, where she could experience that positive energy all the time, and she has never looked back.

Before joining Work Friendly, Hanna served as an HR Generalist for an experiential marketing agency in Chicago. Here she was exposed to all pillars of HR, and she earned her PHR in May of 2021. Hanna enjoys HR because it is problem solving with compassion. She is glad to be a part of a team who shares her passion for people and helping others by making a positive impact in the workplace.

Outside of work, Hanna enjoys singing with the Chicago Artists Chorale, exploring bookstores and coffee shops, laughing with her silly pup Esmeralda, and kayaking anywhere she can with her fiance, Ryan.