About Our Founder

Krista Lane (she/her/hers) is a People Consultant and Job Search Coach with over a decade of experience in HR. She thinks in systems — seeing interconnections and collaborating both deeply and cross-functionally to build better workplaces.


Her experience in technical recruiting and HR/People Operations, paired with several experiences of burnout, inspired her to fix hiring. That means working with jobseekers and employers in a variety of ways, shaping workplaces so that employees and businesses can thrive.

Does Headwaters HR align with your company vision?

Headwaters are the origin point of a watershed. Rather than reactively treat downstream effects (urgent or seemingly intractable problems), we intervene before most companies would think about bringing in People people.

These principles guide our work:

  • There is always a solution. Every solution has tradeoffs. Not everything in life or work is sunshine and roses, but we’ll figure any challenge out together.

    Working in the complexity of the human condition is hard, underappreciated work—it requires discipline to do sustainably.

    We show up authentically with whatever parts of us are available on a given day, make time to celebrate wins, and trust there is light at the end of the tunnel—no matter how dark it may seem now.

  • We are all humans first. Intentions and impact matter. Putting ourselves in others’ shoes gives us essential context to make decisions that support inclusive, equitable, and compassionate outcomes. 

    There is no arbitrary “hustle for hustle’s sake” here. When we put humans first, we start with “why.” The “how” delivers the best outcomes for everyone.

    While we bring over a decade of experience to this work, there is always more to learn and room to grow. We work earnestly and with integrity. This means we discuss tradeoffs, practice accountability for ourselves and others, and commit to doing better in the future.

  • We encourage you to approach problems with an abundance and growth mindset no matter your budget.

    We adapt quickly to changes and get curious with as few assumptions as possible.

    Very rarely is there a single best answer—we’re creative and resourceful to achieve custom solutions for your unique context.

  • We enable you to both think about the long-term impacts of your investments in this work, and to carry our work forward long after our engagement is over. This is essential to building sustainable practices.

    We provide guidance, tools, advising, and training through our work together, ultimately “teaching you to fish.”

If you’re ready to break out of reactive cycles, book a free discovery call.