Our Why
At Culture Catalyst, we believe small and midsize businesses are the beating heart of innovation. The founders we serve are bold, inventive, and resilient - the kind of people who take risks not just for their careers, but to build something bigger for their teams, families, and communities.
That same boldness comes with unique vulnerabilities.
Small-to-midsize businesses can move fast - but they can also break fast. One critical departure, one toxic team dynamic, one compliance misstep can send ripples through your entire business. We’ve seen it happen. And we’ve made it our mission to stop it before it does.
That’s why we deliver executive-level HR leadership to scaling businesses that need it most. No red tape. No gatekeeping. Just real, responsive, people-first partnership designed to help you grow - and stay protected as you do.
Who We Are
We’re the HR Team that founders actually want in the room when things get weird. The ones who help you solve messy people problems with strategy and soul. The ones who see HR not only as a risk buffer, but as a growth engine.
Whether you’re scaling fast, recovering from chaos, or finally ready to level up your leadership - we’re your partners in momentum.
What sets us apart?
Growth-Focused: HR should be a growth engine, not a gatekeeper. We show up with the savvy and acumen to understand your drivers, goals, and hurdles.
Business-First Mindset: We align HR strategies directly to your actual growth goals, not theoretical models.
Expert Change Management: From global scale-ups to urgent industry upset, we’ve been in the fire. We bring calm, clarity, and serious experience.
Empathy with Intent: We drive lasting change by truly understanding the fears, motivations, and blind spots of your people.
Our Founder
Melanie Kingdon (they/them) brings nearly two decades of high-impact HR leadership to Culture Catalyst. A strategic visionary with startup energy and enterprise execution, Melanie knows how to lead through uncertainty - and help others do the same.
Their early consulting career gave them a window into the soul of small business: the creativity, speed and relentless optimism - as well as the risks and resource gaps that make these businesses especially fragile. They saw too many small to midsize businesses fail not because of market fit, but because of missteps in people leadership. That’s where their mission became clear.
Today, Melanie channels that insight and grit into building people strategies that protect businesses, unlock potential, and create space for innovation to thrive.