Marie Szuts has always been drawn to working with people and their stories. Her early career started in food journalism, where she led the production of two magazines centered around Italian cuisine and culture, as well as one about spicy food from around the globe. Working with such an enthusiastic community of makers, readers, and writers further deepened her appreciation for the power and interconnection of storytelling and culture (not to mention the warmth and community that comes from breaking bread with others!).

Marie’s work eventually led into the tech world, where she was a very early employee at an educational technology start-up. There, she led combined teams of content experts and engineers to reinvent the way digital textbooks were designed by educators and experienced by learners. She then spent the next few years building out the People function as VP, People at the hypergrowth design tech start-up, Figma.

Marie loves helping companies and leaders build cultures and build their own capacity—coaching managers and teams was a favorite part of her in-house jobs, and she knew she wanted to make that the centerpiece of her next endeavor. Now she operates her own coaching and consulting practice, as well as teaches and mentors HR leaders through programs such as the People Leader Accelerator.

Marie has also served for many years on the Board of Directors of a national music non-profit (leading the board for four years as president), and is currently the vice-chair of the Board of Trustees for an independent school. She is passionate about volunteer board service as a fulfilling way to continue developing leadership and communication skills.