Conversations with HR Director Staci Smith

Staci grew up as the middle child in Upland, CA. She has two brothers and was raised primarily by her mother. Even as a kid she was a strong relationship builder, being a member of the Girl Scouts and tactfully getting in good with grade school teachers. She jokingly told me, “Yeah, I was always like the teacher’s right hand man.” Relationship building is definitely a skill. There is a psychology to it. Building up your network and knowing who to call; the original utilization of Human Resources.

Staci and I caught up in New York City at an exclusive Moet-Hennessy event. The libations were flowing and we were all in great spirits. It was perfect timing to catch up with her, seeing how her home office is located in Los Angeles. Staci is a social butterfly and has no problem navigating a room of talented professionals. It was fun hanging out with her! Staci is a graduate of Washington State University and most recently received her official certification as a Human Resource Professional. A respected certificate amongst leaders in HR. In regards to career, Staci is what I like to call a “journeyman,” as she’s gathered a variety of work experiences. She’s worked in HR for the Los Angels Angels at Aramark Stadium, the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center, and also for NBC theme parks. Currently, she is the Senior Director of Human Resources for Revolt TV. Revolt is a music cable network created by Sean Combs, dedicated to the entertainment culture of this generation. Staci described Revolt’s mission as, “To be the ESPN of MUSIC and fill the void of what MTV used to be. Non-scripted television.” I am pleased to feature a savvy entertainment professional in this week’s span style=”color: #ffdf00;”>#ShineHard conversation…

WHAT IS YOUR PASSION AND WHEN DID YOU KNOW?

Staci: My passion? I feel like I know my passion, but maybe I sometimes run from it. I feel like my passion is helping others. I think that HR provides me the medium to help others, but at the same time I don’t think you’re helping others all the time when you’re letting them go. When I was younger I was in girl scouts and we did a lot of community service. Since then I’ve always loved community service and doing events like that. I realize that I love mentoring and just really helping young people grow and find out their passion. So, yeah, that’s where my passion lies. 

WHO DID YOU LOOK UP TO AS A KID?

Staci: My mom. I feel like I was her shadow. When I was younger she would drop me off at day care and I would cry for hours *laughs*. Even to this day she’s like my best friend. I call her every single day. She also works in HR, so whether it’s personal advice or work advice. I think I’ve always really looked up to her because she is a mother of three kids and a single mom. Like now she tells me, “we were struggling!” but I had no idea! I never knew we didn’t have things. She was just making it happen. 

SO TELL ME ABOUT YOUR CURRENT ROLE?

Staci: Right now, I am the Senior Director of Human Resources at Revolt TV. I head my department, its me and one other coordinator that reports to me. I am in charge of literally all things HR at Revolt. Whether it’s staffing, terminations, mediation, and coaching employees. I lead performance management and performance review. We have a little under 100 employees, and then we also do production, so we have another 100 freelancers.It’s kind of a role where a lot of things fall to you. When people don’t know where to go it’s like, “Oh, Ask HR!” It’s also making sure peoples salaries are competitive and just partnering with the client group to be more strategic with their team.

WHAT WAS YOUR JOURNEY LIKE TO GET ON BOARD WITH REVOLT?

Staci: I’m such a job hopper and it’s really bad as an HR person to say this *laughs*. I’m all about trying to find out what makes you happy and if you’re in a position that doesn’t make you happy than I think you need to figure out what’s going to make you happy. I was with the Anaheim Ducks, I felt like that was my dream job and I was working crazy hours! Then I was on vacation for my birthday and I got called in, and I got laid off. This is around the time when the economy fell and we were in the recession. People weren’t really spending money at hockey games. I felt like literally my life was over! But it ended up being one of the best things that ever happened to me. I got time to travel, I ended up enrolling into grad school, and got offered a job with an HR consulting company. When I graduated I was an HR manager for NBC and Participant Media. One day, I got a call from a colleague saying, “I have this awesome opportunity over at Revolt. Are you ready?” That’s basically how I ended up at Revolt.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO SUCCEED?

Staci: My family. I know my little brother looks up to me and my cousins. We had a party a couple weeks ago and my cousin told me that I’m the first person out of our family to really make it “Big.” I knew that they were proud of me, but I never realized that they looked up to me like that. So that was like, “Dang! That’s a lot of pressure!” I need to push even harder and look at what I have on my vision board. I just want to make sure I’m continuing to make my family proud and helping them succeed. I also just don’t wanna be average. I’m inspired by my fear of mediocrity! 

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES YOU FACE WORKING FOR REVOLT?

Staci: It is amazing. It’s amazing and it’s challenging. It’s a new environment. The tools I had at larger companies I worked with, I just can’t go the intranet to pull out a policy or procedure. So, I’m either recreating it or trying to gain insight from my HR friends. It’s a lot of young people and that’s great, but at the same time it’s challenging. I’m in a work force where there’s Millennials, there’s Gen X, there’s Baby Boomers. It’s trying to figure out how to help all those groups management style, how they respond, and how they like to be spoken to. And also, being a woman in a male dominated industry is a challenge.

Overall you’re working for Mr. Combs, who is a beast in the industry, who does not lose. You know going to work, Revolt is going to continue to push hard to find distribution and it’s ultimately a fun place to be.

Johnny: There’s definitely a skill in the ability to work with and reach multiple generations.

WHAT IS IT LIKE WORKING WITH THE CELEBRITIES?

Staci: It’s awesome. It’s like sometimes you have to pinch yourself and say, “This is my job.” I think Kanye is probably the time where I felt the most star struck. I looked over to my right and Kanye was standing right next to me! I’m like, “What do you do with this?? This is Kanye West!” The only thing I could do is ask him to take a selfie with me! I think it’s awesome being able to be around celebrities and you learn that they’re human. They’re just like me and you. Meeting Lance Gross was pretty cool too… [Live Convo]