About Bright + Early

B+E began in 2017, with a mission to help startups scale their HR without losing what made them special. We started applying their user-centred design methods to all things HR, and have since brought our approach to hundreds of mission-driven organizations of all types and sizes, serving as their embedded HR team or an innovative project partner.

B+E is proudly an equitable employer. All Early Birds are full time, with benefits, fair salaried pay, and support to both grow and rest. We donate a portion of sales to The Bright + Early Better Workplaces Fund, a group of charities supporting underrepresented groups in the workforce.

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Our Dream Team:

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Nora Jenkins Townson
Founder, Principal

With over 15 years of experience helping technical and creative organizations build their people programs, and 8 years leading B+E, Nora is passionate about applying human-centred design to the workplace and exploring, writing, and speaking about the future of work.

Superpowers:
  • Employee experience design
  • Alternatively structured and HR-hesitant teams
Can be found:
  • Curating her library
Steph Bergman
Senior Consultant,
Team Lead

With years of experience in organizations large and small, Steph’s skills span across HR, leadership, inclusion,  coaching and program design. Bring Steph your toughest problems; she’s seen it all and can craft a warm, practical, and often ingenious solution. 

Superpowers:
  • Organizational strategy
  • Nonprofits
  • Diverse workplaces, Indigenous inclusion
Can be found:
  • Serving on her local Métis council, hiking
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Trisha Neogi
Senior Consultant, 

Compensation Lead

Our resident compensation (and vibes) lead, Trisha loves helping teams build custom approaches to pay that work, scale, and resonate with their values.

Superpowers:
  • Custom and complex compensation design
  • Career growth and performance systems
Can be found:
  • Solo traveling
Gillian Jose-Riz
Senior Consultant, 

Compensation Specialist

Gill is a serious people process crafter and our resident data-whiz. She takes a thoughtful and meticulous approach to help organizations design and scale themselves.

Superpowers:
  • Compensation design
  • Career growth and performance systems
  • Organizational design
Can be found:
  • Sparring in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
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Kari Bell
Senior HR Consultant

An East Coaster with deep experience in early-stage organizations, Kari designs inclusive workplaces and builds accessible systems that enable teams and managers to grow with clarity and care.

Superpowers:
  • Policy, compliance, accessibility
  • Intentional communication
  • Change management
Can be found:
  • Hiking with her dog, Ruth
Lauren Mercurio-Smith
HR Consultant

Laur loves helping with tough, messy people problems. She coaches teams and leaders with a warm and engaging approach, all while building policies and programs that keep the good vibes going.

Superpowers:
  • Coaching
  • Team communication
  • Employee engagement
Can be found:
  • Strumming her guitar for animals 
and babies
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Clea Arrieta
HR Consultant, DEI specialist

Clea’s creativity, human-first approach and experience with both nonprofits and scaling tech companies make her a natural fit for 
those who want to approach work differently. Clea also works on designing and leading our inclusion practice.

Superpowers:
  • Inclusion audits and strategies
  • Alternative organizations
  • Nonprofits
Can be found:
  • Running a marathon, eating sushi
Lauren Freeman
HR Consultant

Lauren excels at cutting through organizational noise and creating programs and processes that harmonize teams. She’s also a great accountability coach for leaders, and doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff.

Superpowers:
  • Performance programs
  • Compensation design
  • Coaching
Can be found:
  • At the hot yoga studio
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Our Values

Inclusivity

The best workplaces are built for everyone. Every policy and process you'll get from Bright + Early is designed with equity in mind and vetted by our in-house inclusion experts.

Transparency

Endless paperwork? Annual reviews full of surprises? Policies written for robots? Not here. We believe people thrive best with clear communication and expectations.

Data

Who says MVPs, user research and iteration are only for the product team? With Bright + Early, you'll get HR programs built and measured by data and team feedback.

Heart

People want to buy from, work for and stay with companies that treat their people well. Put simply, we won't build systems or policies that don't value humans.

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Fractional HR ConsultingCompensation ConsultingCareer Path DesignPerformance ProcessesEmployee HandbooksInclusive HR StrategiesTeam Training

Bright + Early was founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.
To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we reside on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is current and ongoing, and we need to centre reconciliation in our actions and in our work. We encourage our team, partners, and clients to learn about the lands in which they live and to work towards reconciliation.
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