#49 - Deepika Venugopal

In this episode, I’m joined by Kelly Mendez-Scheib, Chief People Officer, PhD candidate in Leadership and board advisor, with over 15 years of experience in global People strategy.We explore the tension at the heart of People leadership: how to build trust while serving both employees and the organisation.We discuss why HR is often perceived as a distrusted function, what it takes to earn a seat at the leadership table, how leaders balance growth with tough people decisions and where to draw the line on AI in hiring and performance.A practical conversation for People leaders, Talent leaders and founders building at scale.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode of Talent Talks with Nawres, I’m joined by Deepika Venugopal, Chief Human Resources Officer at Laundryheap, with extensive experience building and scaling people strategies across multiple international markets.We discuss what changes when companies move from hiring fast to hiring right, how scale-ups can compete for talent against larger brands with bigger budgets, and what it really takes to build and align teams across borders while maintaining performance.A practical conversation for People leaders, Talent leaders and founders scaling across global markets.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode of Talent Talks, I’m joined by William Ingham, Chief People Officer, advisor and author, with over two decades of experience leading people, culture and organisational transformation across global enterprises and high-growth companies.We discuss what leaders get wrong when companies need to move fast, how to identify and remove friction as organisations scale, what it takes to support and scale high-performing GTM teams and how to approach AI in decision making without over-reliying on it.A practical and honest conversation for People leaders, Talent leaders and founders building teams in fast-moving environments.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode, I'm joined by Jyl Feliciano, Global Vice President of People, Culture and Belonging at Highspot, with over two decades of experience shaping people and culture strategies across high-growth organisations.We discuss why culture is built through retaining talent, how people leaders can move beyond gut feel and use data and AI to make smarter people decisions, what inclusive hiring looks like in practice and the biggest opportunities and challenges when building global teams.A practical and honest conversation for people leaders, talent leaders and founders who want to build cultures that truly last.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode, I'm joined by Colleen Pimentel, a go-to-market leader with more than three decades of experience scaling sales organisations across big tech and startups.Recorded in honour of International Women's Day, we cover the fundamentals of successful sales, building trust through value, and what leaders can do to attract, retain and champion high-potential female talent in tech and go-to-market roles.A practical conversation for sales leaders, people leaders and founders building more inclusive, high-performing teams.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode of Talent Talks with Nawres, I’m joined by Sarah Hartman, a People and Talent leader with hands-on experience building People functions from scratch in fast-paced tech companies.We discuss laying strong foundations, creating culture that’s truly lived, rethinking job design for 2026, skills-based hiring, authentic employer branding and practical ways to improve retention and engagement immediately.A practical conversation for People and Talent leaders building high-performing teams in high-growth environments.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode of Talent Talks with Nawres, I’m joined by Chelsea Rowls, a senior People leader with deep experience supporting growing tech companies.We discuss building trust in HR, making engagement surveys work, turning feedback into action and balancing fairness, clarity and scalability while staying human.A practical conversation for People and Talent leaders navigating growth and complexity.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode, I’m joined once again by Dr Fatima P. Godall, Director of People and Culture at Electrify Video Partners, returning for part two after her highly valued first appearance. We explore what it really takes to build a strong culture in a fully remote, high-growth environment. We talk about why clarity and trust are the foundations of effective leadership and how remote companies can maintain high performance without losing their human touch. She also shares what she has learned from investing in more than 70 tech companies. A must-listen for leaders, founders and talent professionals who want to build cultures that thrive in remote-first organisations.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode, I’m joined by Kathrin Selezneva, Lead Talent Acquisition Manager at Humanoid, to discuss what it really takes to hire at speed without compromising on quality. We talk about how Kathrin built the recruitment function from scratch during Humanoid’s earliest days, what she learned from hiring over 100 people in the first year, how culture is intentionally shaped during hypergrowth and where AI genuinely adds value in recruitment without replacing the human element. A must-listen for People and Talent leaders and founders scaling teams in fast-growing tech companies.Send Talent Talks a message!

In this episode, I’m joined by Tom Booth, Talent Lead at Primer, to explore how modern tech companies can build fair, consistent and high-quality hiring processes. We discuss why Tom’s team manually reviewed 1,200 applications, how simple habits like a no update update improve candidate experience, and how AI question banks can make interviews more structured and reliable. A practical conversation for People and Talent leaders scaling hiring in fast-moving environments.Send Talent Talks a message!