HR Spotlight Interview
For our latest Black History Month feature, HR Spotlight sat down with Stephanie Clergé, the VP of People Development at Kolbe Corp. Stephanie’s journey to the C-Suite was anything but linear; she began her career as an engineer in high-tech manufacturing.Today, she leverages that operational background to bridge the gap between human instincts and artificial intelligence. We spoke with her about leading AI adoption from a people-first perspective, the power of curiosity, and why understanding the “unwritten rules” of business is vital for career growth.
HR Spotlight: Thank you for joining us, Stephanie. Please share with our readers your experience in HR, what you currently do for work, and any passion projects you’re involved in.
Stephanie Clergé:
I currently serve as Vice President of People Development at Kolbe Corp, where I oversee our organizational culture, employee training, and performance. In addition to leading our internal people and learning strategy, I also work directly with client organizations around the world by training and consulting with leaders and supporting our global network of independent consultants who do similar work across industries and geographies.
My path into HR has been anything but traditional. I began my career as an engineer in high-tech manufacturing and later moved into senior program management roles focused on scaling new technologies. One of those assignments included leading the hiring, onboarding, and training of more than 700 employees in a single year. At the time, our business unit intentionally built its own people and talent team outside of traditional HR because leaders believed it was critical to deeply understand the operational realities of the business.
For much of my early career, I was doing HR work without carrying the HR title, and I will admit that I once viewed HR as a bit of a dirty word. That experience shaped how I approach people development today. I stay deeply grounded in business needs, operational realities, and measurable outcomes.
Later, I formally moved into HR and served as a program manager for a large-scale cultural transformation initiative across a global organization of more than 100,000 employees. While it was energizing to work closely with senior leadership, I also became very aware of how difficult it is to create meaningful and lasting culture change without clarity and alignment.
After running my own coaching and consulting practice, I joined Kolbe nearly ten years ago. What I love most about my current role is the ability to combine internal HR leadership with external consulting. I work with organizations of many sizes and industries while also building and shaping culture inside our own company.
My primary passion today sits at the intersection of human instincts and artificial intelligence. With a background in engineering and human-machine interaction, I am actively helping drive both internal AI adoption and the integration of AI into our external products and services. As organizations move into increasingly AI-infused workplaces, I believe this is an essential responsibility for HR leaders so that technology strengthens, rather than diminishes, human potential.
HR Spotlight: What HR problem are you most excited to be working on right now?
Stephanie Clergé:
The HR challenge I am most excited about right now is helping organizations move beyond access to AI and into real, human adoption of it.
For many years, we talked about a digital divide as a lack of access to technology. In most organizations today, that is no longer the real problem. Employees and leaders already have access to AI tools. The barrier is much more human, including lack of interest, fear, distrust, uncertainty about skills, and anxiety about what these technologies might mean for their future.
At Kolbe, I have been focused on building practical, people-centered approaches to AI adoption that go beyond traditional change management. Clear communication and executive buy-in are no longer enough. Unlike past technology shifts, such as when new tools only existed inside a factory or workplace, employees now encounter AI constantly in their personal lives. Their emotions, assumptions, experiences, and concerns come into the workplace with them.
To address this, I created an internal AI working group made up of representatives from every department. We share emerging AI use cases and news, and each member is responsible for implementing a small and practical AI project within their own function. I intentionally began with a coalition of the willing, with the longer-term goal of developing internal champions who can help engage others and better understand what may be preventing broader adoption.
The deeper challenge I am working on is helping employees understand how AI can enhance not only their productivity, but also their long-term value as contributors. Leaders are focused on performance, efficiency, and business results. Employees are often quietly asking very different questions. Will I be replaced? Can I learn fast enough? Will new roles truly exist for me?
My work now focuses on finding the right motivation and a sustainable pace for both groups. I use surveys, in-person sessions, and one-on-one conversations to understand what employees actually want, what they need, and what they will naturally engage with. This is where Kolbe’s instinctive strengths framework is especially valuable, because it helps us design AI adoption strategies that align with how people are naturally wired to take action.
HR Spotlight: What skill has been most important to your growth in HR so far?
Stephanie Clergé:
The most important skill in my growth, both in HR and in leadership more broadly, has been curiosity.
My decision to leave a large corporate environment and look for work where I could make a meaningful difference at scale began with curiosity, even if it did not feel that way at first. It started with frustration. I found myself spending a great deal of time mentoring colleagues and feeling discouraged when people did not act on my advice. In a conversation with a trusted colleague, she suggested that what I really needed was not more mentoring, but a coaching approach. That single comment led me to pursue a coaching certification, and it fundamentally changed how I work with people.
Becoming a coach taught me how to use curiosity differently. Instead of assuming I had the right answers, I learned to ask better questions, listen more deeply, and test what I was hearing across different people, teams, and environments. That shift from problem-solving for others to learning with them has shaped how I lead, how I partner with executives, and how I support employees navigating complex change.
I have also learned that curiosity needs to be directed inward. The more clearly we understand our own instincts, reactions, and assumptions, the better equipped we are to navigate challenges such as remote and hybrid work, division in the workplace, and the rapid pace of technological change, including AI.
Not everyone needs to pursue a formal coaching credential. Adopting a curious, coaching-oriented mindset is one of the most practical and powerful tools I know for managing teams, partnering with senior leaders, and navigating relationships outside of work.
HR Spotlight: What advice would you give to young Black women in HR or entering the HR profession?
Stephanie Clergé:
This is a difficult question to answer in today’s environment, because my early career was shaped by organizational values and systems that do not always exist in the same way anymore.
I began my career in an organization that emphasized results, quality, customer focus, and personal ownership of employability. There was a strong expectation that employees would not only do their jobs well, but also help co-create a great place to work. That environment gave me the freedom to focus on my role while also taking on additional projects and leadership opportunities.
I was also fortunate to have entered the company as an intern before becoming a full-time employee, which meant I learned many of the unwritten rules early. I learned how things really worked, how decisions were made, and how credibility was built. Not everyone had access to that same head start, and I became intentional about mentoring others and helping them understand the parts of organizational life that often take years to learn.
For many employees, especially those who are not naturally included in informal networks, social gatherings, or relationship-building spaces outside of work, access to those unwritten rules and informal learning matters even more.
My advice to young Black women in HR is to be proactive about building trusted relationships at work. Find a mentor, a peer partner, or a small circle of colleagues you can learn with and from. Look for people who are willing to share how influence, performance, and advancement really operate in your organization.
Earlier in my career, formal employee resource groups and affinity communities created powerful spaces for learning, belonging, and shared insight. In environments where those structures are limited or inconsistent today, it becomes even more important to intentionally create your own support system. Find people who can help you navigate both the visible and invisible sides of your career.
You do not have to navigate this work alone, and you should not have to guess your way into influence.
HR Spotlight: What do you want people to understand about Black women in HR that often gets missed?
Stephanie Clergé:
What often gets missed about Black women in HR is the depth and breadth of our business leadership.
For a long time, I was reluctant to even label myself as an HR professional because of the perception that HR was less strategic, less rigorous, or simply a support function rather than a true business partner. I also observed that Black women in HR leadership were frequently concentrated, or visibly recognized, only in diversity and inclusion roles rather than across the full spectrum of organizational strategy, operations, and leadership.
At a recent conference, the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management described what CEOs most want from HR leaders as three things: competence, being a trusted confidant, and courage. That framework captures what I believe Black women in HR bring every day.
We are deeply competent in the people and business space. We build trust across organizations and are often the leaders others turn to when situations are complex, sensitive, or high-stakes. We bring courage, especially when it comes to raising issues that are uncomfortable, systemic, or easy to ignore.
Unfortunately, Black women in HR are sometimes pigeonholed. Advocacy for employees can be misread as being driven by emotion rather than professional judgment. Our leadership presence can be filtered through stereotypes instead of being recognized as strategic influence and organizational stewardship.
The reality is that Black women in HR are not only culture carriers or champions of inclusion. We are business leaders who help organizations navigate risk, performance, talent, and change. When that full contribution is recognized, organizations are better positioned to make smarter, more human, and more sustainable decisions.
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