Latisha
Newby, Esq.
HR consultant · Employment law educator · Speaker
I am an HR consultant with a law degree. That combination is not a credential I collected — it is the reason my advice is different.
- J.D.
- M.S.
- SHRM-SCP
- PHR
80% student pass rate — Fall 2023 – Spring 2026
20 years in executive HR and employment law
Most people who advise on workplace decisions can answer one of two questions. A lawyer can tell you what the law requires. An HR consultant can tell you what will work with your people. Neither answer is much use on its own, because the decision a leader actually faces sits in between them.
I spent two decades in executive HR, most recently as Chief People & Legal Officer at a national nonprofit — the job where both questions land on the same desk. Before that, higher education and the private sector. Along the way I went to law school, not to leave HR, but to stop guessing at the part of the job that carried the most risk.
So when a manager tells me an employee just disclosed a pregnancy, or a complaint arrived with no name on it, or someone on a performance plan needs to go — I am not reading you a policy. I have made that call, written that documentation, and sat in the room when it was reviewed.
The advice you need is rarely “what does the law say.” It is “what do I do on Monday, and how do I make sure it holds up.”
Where the experience comes from
- Now
Founder, Cultivate HR Consulting
Leadership development, independent workplace investigations, HR certification, and advisory work for organizations across the Southeast.
- Now
Certification Director, SHRM Raleigh Metro
I run certification preparation for the chapter. Twenty-two of my twenty-eight passing students came through this program.
- Recently
Chief People & Legal Officer, national nonprofit
People strategy and legal risk in the same job, which is where I learned that the two questions cannot be answered separately.
- 20 years
Executive HR across sectors
Nonprofit, higher education, and private employers — the full range of what goes wrong and what it costs to fix it.
You’re More Ready Than You Think
How to Prepare for HR Certification Without the Noise
Written for the HR professional who has been putting off the exam. Not a study guide and not a collection of test tricks — a strategy for the person who already has the experience and keeps not scheduling the test.
It covers the R.E.A.D. Method™, why your real-world instincts can work against you on the exam, and how to build a study plan that survives a bad week. For the aPHR, PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP, and SHRM-SCP.
Paperback and Kindle · Latisha Newby, Esq., SHRM-SCP, PHR
Two ways in, depending on who you are.
If you are getting certified, start with the Accelerator. If you are responsible for how your managers make decisions — or you are not sure yet which of those you are — start with a conversation.