821 Consulting LLC

10/12/2026

What a GREAT Professional Development Day with the Licking County Child Support Enforcement Agency! 💚

There are no perfect teams, but I have to say, working with Wendy and her team is a pretty amazing experience!

We spent the day having some great conversations about respect in the workplace, de-escalation, exceptional customer service, and effective teamwork. We talked about the challenges that come with serving others, what happens when the usual approaches just aren’t working, and how the little things we do every day can make a big difference.

And let’s not forget our “Would You Rather? — CSEA Edition” activity! 😂 There were definitely some interesting choices, a few surprises, and plenty of laughs!

One of my favorite reminders from the day: Great teams aren’t perfect. They’re made up of people who are willing to communicate, support one another, take accountability, and keep getting better together.

A huge THANK YOU to Wendy and the entire Licking County CSEA team for the thoughtful conversations, your willingness to participate, the delicious lunch, and the much-needed humor!

Days like this remind me why I love what I do! 💚

09/29/2026

This week, I watched a few of my closest friends and colleagues make some incredibly hard professional decisions. It has me thinking about the way people are treated at work.

When an organization treats someone as disposable because they no longer “fit the mold,” the impact doesn’t end with that person. Others are watching. They see how a colleague was treated, and they wonder what would happen if they were in the same position.

Then leaders wonder why people stop trusting them, start looking for other jobs, or do only what’s required. Those responses don’t appear out of nowhere.

I believe some people in leadership—and in my beloved profession of HR—need to read Leaders Eat Last. The title alone is a reminder: leadership comes with a responsibility to care for the people affected by our decisions.

Hard decisions will always be part of work. How we treat people while making them tells everyone else who we are. Why wouldn’t they believe what they see?

09/25/2026

I’m excited to be heading back to Wapakoneta on October 9 for another great leadership conversation!

This time, we’re tackling Leading Through Stress, Change & Resistance — because leadership gets a whole lot harder when your team is stretched, change keeps coming, and not everyone is exactly thrilled about it. 😊

We’ll talk about what leaders can actually do to:

* Maintain calm and provide direction when things feel unsettled
* Understand what’s behind resistance instead of simply labeling it
* Lead teams through staffing challenges and high-pressure seasons
* Communicate in ways that build trust and reduce uncertainty
* Manage our own stress so we aren’t adding it to the room

Two sessions are available — 9:00–11:30 AM or 2:00–4:30 PM — through the Wapakoneta Area Chamber of Commerce.

I always enjoy the conversations that happen with this group, and I’m looking forward to another afternoon of practical leadership tools, candid discussion, and probably a few laughs along the way.

October 9 | Wapakoneta, Ohio
Members: $50 | Nonmembers: $75

Registration information is on the flyer. Hope to see you there!

09/25/2026

So excited!!

🚨 Employers & Leaders — This one is for you!

Change, staffing challenges, and high-pressure seasons are part of leading a team. But how you respond can make all the difference. Join us for Leading Through Stress, Change & Resistance, a leadership-focused training designed to equip leaders with practical tools to maintain calm, direction, and trust when their teams are navigating change.

📅 October 9, 2026
⏰ 9–11:30 AM OR 2–4:30 PM
📍 8 N. Blackhoof St., Wapakoneta, OH
💲 Chamber Member: $50 | Nonmember: $75

Presented by Valarie Nash of 821 Consulting LLC .

If you’re an employer or leader looking to strengthen your team and navigate challenging seasons with confidence, don’t miss this opportunity!

👉 Register now using the QR code on the flyer!

09/23/2026

I had a blast speaking at the 2026 Ohio SHRM Conference!

It was exciting to take the ideas from my five-minute DisruptHR Columbus presentation and have the time to dig deeper with a room full of HR professionals during “Diagnose the Disconnect: Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves About Psychological Safety.”

The disconnect often lives between what leaders intend and what employees actually experience.

A leader intends to preserve harmony—but employees experience silence.
A leader intends to be kind—but employees receive unclear feedback.
A leader says, “My door is always open”—but employees are still expected to take the first risk.

Psychological safety is not about keeping everyone comfortable, avoiding conflict or removing accountability. It is about creating an environment where people can speak honestly, challenge ideas, acknowledge mistakes and address performance without fear of humiliation or retaliation.

When people can speak, leaders can lead.

Thank you to Ohio SHRM and everyone who joined me for this important conversation!

If you are ready to bring this critical discussion to your leadership team, I would love to work with you.

📧 [email protected]

09/19/2026

I’m excited to announce that I’ll be speaking at the 2026 Ohio SHRM Conference!

My session, Diagnose the Disconnect: Five Lies Leaders Tell Themselves About Psychological Safety, takes an honest look at one of today’s most important—and misunderstood—workplace concepts.

Psychological safety does not mean keeping everyone comfortable, avoiding conflict or lowering expectations. It means creating an environment where people can speak honestly, challenge ideas, acknowledge mistakes and address performance without fear of humiliation or retaliation.

Together, we’ll explore:

🔹 The difference between safety and comfort
🔹 Candor and healthy disagreement
🔹 Why trust and accountability must work together
🔹 The leadership behaviors that unintentionally cause employees to stay silent
🔹 Practical ways HR can help leaders respond when people speak up

Because psychological safety is not about making work comfortable—it is about making candor possible.

If you’re attending the 2026 Ohio SHRM Conference, I hope you’ll join me!

09/06/2026

It may be a holiday week, but it’s a busy one for 821 Consulting!

And what a fitting week to do this work. Labor Day gives us an opportunity to recognize and reflect on the hardworking people who make our organizations, our communities, and our country what they are. The people doing the work every day deserve workplaces where they can contribute, grow, be respected, and be led well.

That makes this week’s conversations especially meaningful.

I get to kick things off spending time with my friends at Champaign County Children Services, where we’ll be talking about decision-making and giving and receiving feedback—two things that have a tremendous impact on trust, communication, and how teams work together.

Then I get to hang out with the folks from the Ohio Child Support Professionals Association during their Leadership Day, talking about the transition from peer to supervisor.

That transition can be tricky if we don’t prepare for it—from both sides. Organizations have a responsibility to prepare people to lead, and those pursuing leadership roles need to understand that a promotion changes more than a title. It changes relationships, expectations, boundaries, and accountability.

Then I’ll wrap up the week in Wood County, training on two of my favorite topics: civility in the workplace and managing multiple generations at work.

These are two very real workplace challenges. We’re working alongside people with different experiences, expectations, communication preferences, identities, perspectives, and approaches to work. The goal isn’t to make everyone the same. It’s learning how to work well together despite—and sometimes because of—those differences.

So, yes, it’s a busy week. But on a week when we celebrate the contributions of working people, I can’t think of a better way to spend it.

If your organization is thinking about how to better support your people, strengthen your leaders, or build a workplace where people can do their best work, I’d love to be part of that conversation.

Here’s to the hardworking people who keep our workplaces—and our communities—moving forward. 🇺🇸

09/05/2026

Three years ago today was the official launch of 821 Consulting LLC! 🎉

When I started this business, mentors, business owners, and even our accountant told us: this is going to be a journey.

The first 1–2 years? Survive. Validate the business. Figure out whether the work is really there.

Years 2–3? Work toward breaking even and building something sustainable.

Years 5–7? That’s when they said the “real” success and profitability often start to show up.

We knew going in that this was a long game.

And three years in, I can say: the work is out there, and the work is paying off.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Being a one-woman show means I’m the consultant, trainer, business developer, scheduler, marketer, administrator, strategist…and sometimes the person wondering who thought it was a good idea to put me in charge of all of that. 😂

But this journey is teaching me so much.

About who I am.
About what I’m really good at.
About what I’m not so good at.
About where my time and energy make the biggest difference.
And, most importantly, about where I need to focus as I head into Year Four.

I’m incredibly proud to be a woman-owned small business owner.

I’m proud to be an HR practitioner.

And I’m proud of the work I get to do every day with and for my clients—helping organizations strengthen their cultures, develop their leaders, navigate hard things, and create workplaces where people can do great work.

There is still so much I want to build.

But today, I’m taking a minute to appreciate what has already been built.

Three years down. And we’re still here. Still growing. Still learning. Still building.

Here’s to Year Four of 821 Consulting. ❤️

And as always, Dad—8/21 is still at the heart of all of it!

09/01/2026

☕ What a great way to start the morning!

I had such a great time chatting with the folks at Stark County SHRM this morning about psychological safety—and why it’s about so much more than just being nice.

We talked about speaking up, trust, discomfort, accountability, and the role leaders play in determining what happens after someone has the courage to say something.

One of my favorite reminders from our conversation:

People don’t need leaders who make everything comfortable. They need leaders who make honesty possible.

Thank you to everyone who grabbed their coffee and joined the conversation, and a special thank-you to Brenda Basso and Jill Windelspecht for co-hosting! ☕💙

And we’re not done with this topic!

I hope to see many of you later this month at the Ohio SHRM Conference, where I’ll be taking this conversation even deeper during a full session on psychological safety.

Five minutes at DisruptHR ➡️ 45 minutes at Coffee & Chat ➡️ a full session at Ohio SHRM.

Apparently, I have a few things to say about this topic. 😄

See you at Ohio SHRM!

08/28/2026

Yesterday I kicked off a leadership training series with Wood County, and we started with a topic every leader eventually has to face: What Needs to Be Said.

We spent four hours digging into difficult conversations, effective discipline, and documentation practices—and, as always, the best learning came from the conversation in the room.

We talked about the real situations managers face: productivity concerns, employee pushback, supervising employees with more experience, conflict between strong employees, knowing when coaching needs to become corrective action, and documenting in a way that is clear, objective, and supportable.

One of the reminders I hope stuck:

Clear doesn’t mean harsh.

Leaders can hold people accountable while still treating them with dignity and respect. Avoiding what needs to be said rarely makes the issue easier—it usually makes the eventual conversation harder.

Say it early. Say it clearly. Listen well. Follow through.

A huge thank you to Janese Diem and the folks at Wood County for having me! I appreciated the engagement, honesty, questions, and willingness to work through the tough stuff. I’m looking forward to our continued work together and building on what we started yesterday.

If your organization is looking to strengthen its leaders—not just with theory, but with practical tools they can actually use when the conversations get difficult—821 Consulting can help.

Leadership development should prepare people for the moments when leadership is actually required.