Urban Human Resources
"Nobody was ever going to tell you how it works, so I did; now pass it on."
The rules
that decide
the outcome,
in your hands
If you are negotiating an offer, planning your next move, or trying to run your company's people the right way, the rules that decide the outcome usually stay inside HR. My job is to put them in your hands. I learned those rules the long way, from East Oakland to a law degree, a master's in human resources, and 12+ years inside HR. Now I use all of it for you: the professional deciding what to ask for, and the company deciding how to treat its people.
Urban Human Resources is an Oakland HR consulting firm built for two clients: first-generation and underrepresented professionals in the Bay Area negotiating for the roles they earned, and Bay Area startups and minority-owned businesses of 10 to 150 employees, at the point where HR outgrows the owner's desk.
Urban Human Resources was founded in 2017 on a simple observation: the people who decide what a role is worth, how it is levelled, and which resume gets a second look all work in HR, and almost nobody outside HR is told how any of it works.
I built this practice to put that knowledge on the candidate's side of the table, and to put the same knowledge to work inside companies building the function properly. The work is process, structure, and preparation.
I hold a Juris Doctor from the University of San Francisco School of Law, so employment risk gets read from the statute up. I hold a Master of Science in Human Resources Management from Colorado State University Global, with a specialization in Online Learning Innovation and Design, the same training that shapes how I build onboarding systems and manager development programs that people actually complete. I also hold a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies with a Mass Media emphasis from Bellevue University, which shows up in how I write policy: clearly, for the person who has to follow it, not just the person who wrote it.
Negotiation is a core skill in this practice. Offers are rarely just salary: base, bonus, incentives and equity get read against the market and negotiated with a disciplined walk-away. The same skill runs an executive offer, a retention conversation, and a difficult employee relations meeting.
I use AI as a force multiplier for research, drafting, and operations, under strict confidentiality. The judgment, the advice, and the final work are mine.
