Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Larson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I always say my life has been a mix of grit, reinvention, and choosing to rise even when the ground feels shaky. I started my career in education and HR because I genuinely care about people—how they work, how they grow, and how their lives outside the workplace shape everything they bring to the table. Over the years, that calling pulled me into some of the toughest corners of HR, leading complex employee relations cases and helping teams navigate change, conflict, and culture-building.
My path hasn’t been linear, and it definitely hasn’t been easy. I’ve walked through major life transitions, high-pressure roles, leadership scrutiny, and seasons where I had to rebuild myself from the inside out. But those experiences sharpened me. They taught me resilience, emotional intelligence, and how to hold space for others even when I was quietly carrying my own storms.
Today, I’m an Associate Director in the HR space, and I also serve as the President of the Board for Woman 2 Woman, a nonprofit focused on supporting and uplifting women through mentorship, community, and direct resource access. Giving back in that way keeps me grounded—it reminds me that impact doesn’t always happen in boardrooms; sometimes it happens in small, intentional moments of support.
Before that, I served as the Director of Workforce Planning for MT|SHRM (the Middle Tennessee Society for Human Resource Management), where I helped HR professionals across the region grow their careers, build stronger workplaces, and understand the evolving needs of the workforce. That role pushed me to think more strategically about the future of work and how HR can actually shape it.
Alongside all of this, I write under the name Lorenza Jean on Medium, sharing reflections on resilience, identity, healing, and leadership, the things most of us navigate but don’t always talk about openly. Writing has become a place where I unpack what I’ve lived and hopefully help other women feel less alone in their own journeys.
My story is really about reinvention: professionally, emotionally, and personally. I’ve learned that you don’t need a perfect background or a flawless path to make an impact. You just need courage, honesty, and the willingness to write the next chapter even when the last one tried to break you.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not at all. My path has had more bumps, pivots, and plot twists than I ever expected. Professionally, I’ve spent years in roles where the emotional temperature is always high—employee relations, investigations, conflict, and organizational change. That kind of work requires you to stay grounded even when everything around you is chaotic. I’ve dealt with leadership pressure, shifting expectations, and moments where I felt overlooked or underestimated. Those seasons taught me how to advocate for myself in environments that don’t always make space for that.
Personally, I’ve walked through major life transitions: marriage, fertility challenges, and stepping into the role of a bonus mom. Blended families come with their own emotional landscape, and navigating that while building my career stretched me in ways I didn’t expect. It taught me patience, empathy, and how to love a child intentionally and unconditionally.
During this chapter of my life, I was also diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease—myositis with interstitial lung disease. It forced me to slow down, rethink what strength looks like, and build a relationship with my body that was grounded in compassion instead of pressure. Learning to lead, to show up, and to advocate for others while managing my own health became one of the hardest and most defining parts of my journey.
Balancing all of these layers, career, family, health—while still trying to grow personally took a level of resilience I didn’t know I had. There were seasons where I questioned my worth, my direction, and whether I was doing enough for anyone, including myself. But every challenge reshaped me. It taught me to set boundaries, trust my intuition, and carry myself with a kind of strength that isn’t loud but deeply steady.
What I’ve learned is that “smooth” isn’t where transformation happens. It’s the pressure, the uncomfortable seasons, and the moments you think you can’t take one more thing—and then you do. That grit is what carried me forward. And honestly, that part of my story is what I’m most proud of.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work sits at the intersection of people, leadership, and transformation. In my day-to-day career, I serve as an Associate Director in the HR and Employee Relations space, specializing in navigating complex workplace issues, building healthier organizational cultures, and helping leaders move from reactive to proactive when it comes to supporting their teams. I’m known for bringing clarity into chaos, advocating for fairness, and creating systems that put both people and accountability at the center.
Outside of traditional HR, I serve as the President of the Board for Woman 2 Woman, a nonprofit committed to uplifting and supporting women through mentorship, resources, and community. That work grounds me—it reminds me that leadership is most meaningful when it creates impact beyond titles and job descriptions.
I’m also a writer. Under the name Lorenza Jean, I share essays on Medium about resilience, identity, healing, and personal reinvention. Writing allows me to translate the lessons from my own life into words that help others feel seen, understood, and a little less alone in their own journeys.
What sets me apart is my ability to blend strategy and humanity. I’ve built a career on navigating hard spaces—conflict, transition, blended family life, health challenges—and turning them into tools for empathy, clarity, and leadership. I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve never let the hard seasons harden me. Instead, they’ve made me more intentional, more grounded, and more committed to creating spaces where people can grow, be supported, and feel valued.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Over the next 5–10 years, I think HR is going to experience one of the biggest shifts we’ve ever seen. Artificial intelligence will play an increasingly central role in how organizations manage data, predict workforce trends, streamline admin work, and improve the employee experience. From recruiting and onboarding to case management and analytics, AI will help HR teams move faster, eliminate repetitive tasks, and make more informed decisions.
But here’s the part I feel strongly about: AI will never replace the heart of HR. Especially in nonprofit and mission-driven spaces, people need empathy, cultural awareness, and human connection more than ever. AI can support decisions, but it can’t sit with someone through a crisis. It can’t navigate trauma-informed conversations. It can’t build trust in communities that have historically avoided or feared institutional systems.
The future of HR belongs to the leaders who can blend both worlds—leveraging technology for efficiency while protecting the human element that actually holds organizations together. That balance is what will differentiate good workplaces from great ones.
I also think nonprofits in particular will undergo a transformation. As funding challenges and workforce shortages increase, organizations will need stronger people systems, better planning, and leaders who understand how to use technology without losing the compassion that makes this work meaningful.
To me, the future isn’t “tech vs. people.”
It’s tech that supports people, so HR professionals can focus on the conversations, relationships, and decisions that genuinely require a human heart.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://medium.com/@lorenzajean
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielle-hancock-larson-b0a766b0/
- Other: https://woman2woman.life/
