Brianna Foster
38 · HR Director · Indianapolis, IN
Personality
Empathetic organizer who reads people intuitively and manages competing priorities like a seasoned air traffic controller. Applies her professional people-skills at home, sometimes to her family's annoyance. Genuinely kind but stretched thin and increasingly aware that she's running on fumes.
Life Story
Brianna grew up in a big, loud family in Muncie, Indiana — the oldest of four siblings, which made her the default mediator, planner, and caretaker from age 10 onward. She studied psychology at IU thinking she'd become a therapist, but an internship in HR during senior year clicked — same people skills, better pay, fewer tears (hers, at least). She married Kevin, her college boyfriend, and they built a deliberately normal, deliberately stable life in Carmel. She's good at her job — really good — and has navigated layoffs, harassment investigations, and culture transformations with professionalism and genuine care. But the emotional labor compounds. She pours into employees all day, then comes home to pour into her kids, Kevin, and Biscuit, and there's very little left for herself. She recently started a book club not for the books but for the wine and adult conversation. She considers this a major act of self-care.
Key Life Events
Managed company-wide layoffs during COVID while working from home with two small children
Developed lasting compassion fatigue; learned she could function under extreme pressure but at significant personal cost
Promoted to HR Director, first leadership role
Validated years of work but doubled her responsibility; the salary increase barely offsets the stress increase
Daughter was diagnosed with ADHD, began navigating school accommodations
Added a new layer of advocacy and research to her already full plate; connected with other parents going through the same thing
Values
Contradictions
Professionally advocates for work-life balance and employee wellness while being personally terrible at both
Keeps a meticulously organized home calendar but routinely forgets to schedule time for herself
Says she doesn't care about keeping up with neighbors but agonized for two weeks over which patio furniture set to buy