Saying Farewell To FIC

At the end of 2026, FIC Human Resource Partners will officially conclude its work and close.

Those words carry so much emotion for me. This decision has been one of the most difficult I have ever made. It’s taken me over a year to finally make it.  And it’s not because we failed. Quite the opposite, actually. It comes after years of incredible work, extraordinary working relationships, meaningful impact, and a great deal of thoughtful reflection about where I am being called next.

Today, more than anything else, I want to share my gratitude.

To every employee who poured your heart into this work.

To every intern who chose to learn alongside us.

To every consulting partner who shared your expertise, your wisdom, and your passion.

To every client who trusted us with your organizations, your people, your challenges, and your hopes for something better.

Thank you.

FIC was never just a business.

It was always a community of people who believed that workplaces could be more humane, leadership could be more compassionate, and organizations could become places where people genuinely belonged.

Every success we celebrated belonged to all of us.

Over the past seven years, we have had the privilege of working with organizations across the United States to rethink what healthy, inclusive workplaces can be.

We developed the SIO Culture Model because we believed organizational culture deserved to be approached as an interconnected system rather than a collection of disconnected initiatives. We wanted leaders to understand that sustainable culture is created intentionally, not accidentally, and that every decision, every policy, every conversation, and every relationship shapes the experience of the people inside an organization.

We created the 9 Principles of Employee Care because we believed employees should never be treated as expendable resources. Every principle reflected something fundamental: that trust, dignity, communication, accountability, inclusion, and compassion are not luxuries. They are the foundation of healthy organizations.

From those same ideas grew the 9 Principles of Leadership Excellence, helping leaders understand that effective leadership begins with self-awareness and extends outward into relationships, organizational health, and ultimately community impact. Leadership is never simply about directing work. It is about stewarding people.

Among the work that became most meaningful to me personally was our Achieving Equity in Policy workshop. What began as a practical examination of organizational policy evolved into one of our most requested trainings and ultimately became part of a college Human Resources curriculum for four consecutive years. Watching future HR professionals wrestle with difficult questions, examine policies through an equity lens, and become more thoughtful practitioners reminded me why education and the work we’ve done over the last seven years matters so deeply.

None of these frameworks were ever about checking boxes. They were about helping organizations become places where people could do their best work because they felt seen, respected, valued, and cared for.

That mission has never changed. So why am I closing down FIC?

The honest answer is that there isn't one reason. There are many. Some are deeply personal. Others are simply realities of the world around us.

In 2023 and 2024, I experienced a significant progression of the functional neurological and movement disorder that I have been living with since 2014.  A progression that dramatically affected my ability to engage fully in the work I loved. Recovery has been long, challenging, and humbling. I have improved tremendously, and for that I am deeply grateful.

But recovery has also taught me that my capacity is not infinite. I have had to learn to respect my own limits in ways I never had before. My days of powering through and getting the job done by sheer force of will alone have come to and end. I have limits. And my body, my mind, need me to honor those limits if I am to continue the work that I am passionate about.

Even as I’ve recovered, the realities and landscapes that shape my work have changed dramatically.

As opposition to diversity, equity, and inclusion has accelerated, particularly during this current administration, FIC lost nearly three-quarters of our training and policy consulting work. Organizations that had once proudly invested in building healthier more inclusive workplaces became hesitant, uncertain, or simply unable to continue those conversations.

Last year, for the second time in our history, we made the difficult decision to wind down our Nuance Workforce Solutions division.

The first time occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when rapidly changing legal requirements, shutdowns, furloughs, layoffs, and evolving employment regulations created levels of legal and financial risk that exceeded what our small consulting firm could responsibly absorb.

Last year we found ourselves facing similar uncertainty once again.

As legal protections shifted, regulatory guidance changed rapidly, oversight mechanisms were dismantled or restricted, and employment law became increasingly unsettled, it became far more difficult to confidently advise organizations on complex human resources decisions without exposing both our clients and ourselves to significant legal uncertainty.

Running alongside all of that, my identity as trans woman has become a greater consideration in business decisions.

As anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation spread across large portions of the country, operating as a visibly transgender-led consulting company became increasingly challenging. Winning new business became harder in many states, and in some places, it simply became too unsafe for me and some members of our team to travel or conduct business.

At the same time, many of the remarkable consultants who had made up our partner bench made the difficult decision to step away from consulting altogether as the changing legal environment, combined with attacks on DEI work and LGBTQ+ inclusion, led them to redirect their own careers. As our collective capacity diminished, so too did our ability to continue serving clients at the standard we expected of ourselves.

There is also a change in where I feel called to focus my efforts.

As a queer transgender woman, I have found myself increasingly drawn toward serving my community. Not just in general as I have done for so long through FIC, but specifically here at home.

The harms facing LGBTQ+ people may be national. The policy debates may be national. The headlines may be national. But people do not actually live in some nebulous national reality. We live in neighborhoods. We live in towns, cities, boroughs, counties, and states. We work, play, worship, raise our children, and care for one another right there, at home, where our lives actually unfold.

National organizations are doing remarkable work, and we need them. They play an essential role in shaping policy, defending rights, and advancing equality. But local communities need just as much commitment, just as much effort, and just as much love. In many ways, they need even more. When someone loses housing, needs food, is searching for affirming healthcare, or simply needs to know they are not alone, those needs can only be met locally. They are met by neighbors, community organizations, volunteers, and people willing to show up day after day for one another.

Leading FIC while co-leading Lancaster County Chooses Love has been one of the greatest privileges, but it has also required more of me than I can sustainably give. Over the past two years, I’ve given so much of myself to FIC and LCCL that I’ve had little capacity left for the parts of myself that also deserve attention; my family, my friends, and my own creative passions like writing poetry.

At some point, choosing between which of your passions to pursue becomes necessary. And after a year of hand-wringing, I’ve finally made that difficult choice.

For seven years, FIC has helped organizations across the country create healthier more inclusive workplaces and stronger cultures, and I remain immensely proud of that work. But trying to continue that national mission while also answering the urgent and growing needs of the LGBTQ+ community here in Lancaster County has stretched me thinner than I can sustain. Over the past two years, I've come to believe that the greatest good I can offer now is here at home; building partnerships with other organizations, strengthening the capacity of our local community, and helping create systems that allow people not only to survive, but to truly thrive. In many ways, that work is the natural continuation of everything FIC has always worked for.

And let’s be honest, FIC itself wasn't ever supposed to exist. It came into existence entirely by accident. In 2018, exactly one year after announcing my transition, I lost my job. Like so many transgender people, I suddenly found myself struggling to find employment despite years of professional experience. I shared what had happened with the Gendr community, and, Christine Courtney, one of its co-founders reached out to tell me she had a job for me. I sent over my résumé, and sometime later she wrote back with words that would unknowingly bring FIC to life: "Actually, I think I have a better job for you."

That "better job" was to create an inclusion-forward employee handbook. One project became another, then another, and before I knew it I had built something I never set out to build. About a year after accepting that “better job”, FIC Human Resource Partners was born.

Looking back now, it still feels almost unbelievable. What began as a single opportunity became seven years of work that touched organizations across the United States. None of that happened because of me alone, though. From the very beginning, people believed in me before I fully believed in myself. Christine and Laurie Battaglia being two of my biggest champions. They shared their wisdom, their mentorship, their encouragement, their connections, and their grace. They celebrated my victories and helped carry me through difficult seasons.

FIC was never just me, and it was never truly mine alone. Every organization we helped, every leader who grew, every employee who felt more valued, every policy that became more equitable, and every workplace that became more compassionate is a success shared by every person who helped build this company.

As I write this, I find myself holding so many emotions at once. I feel immense pride in what we accomplished together, deep appreciation for everyone who walked this journey with me, and genuine sadness as this chapter is coming to a close. But underneath all of those emotions is something even stronger.  Hope. Hope for the future. Hope for our nation. Hope that the work I have the privilege of continuing alongside the remarkable team at Lancaster County Chooses Love, will continue to improve the lives our community members.

People have asked me over the years what success looks like. My answer has always been the same. Success has never been measured in revenue or growth charts. It has been measured in hearts touched, biases released, cultures improved, communities strengthened, and lives changed.

It was never about the money. My team always got paid first. That philosophy reaches all the way back to my earliest days as a Service Manager with Terminix, long before FIC existed. People have always come before profit. It has always been about the work, the outcomes.

Through FIC, we positively impacted thousands of lives across organizations throughout the United States. The conversations we started will continue. The leaders we developed will still lead. The policies we helped shape will continue safeguard people. The healthier, inclusive cultures we worked so hard to build will survive. The ripples of our work will extend far beyond the life of this company, reaching people we will never meet in ways we may never fully know. I cannot imagine a more meaningful legacy.

While FIC Human Resource Partners will conclude operations at the end of 2026, its mission does not end here. It simply continues through different hands and different organizations.

To every client who trusted us, thank you for allowing us to walk alongside you. To every employee, intern, and consulting partner who gave your talent, your compassion, and your hearts to this work, thank you for helping make FIC what it became. I carry every lesson, every friendship, every challenge, and every success with me into my next chapter.

My work is not finished.  It has simply found a new home.