Where Hive shows up in the conversation.

Episode Transcript

Full conversation, organized by chapter.

Recorded for The Achieve Podcast, hosted by Jessie Warner.

1. Chapter 1·00:04

   Welcome and introduction

   Host Jessie Warner opens The Achieve Podcast and welcomes Rachael Kelly, Founder and CEO of Hive Enterprises, to share the story behind the company and the leaders building it.

2. Chapter 2·00:30

   Inside the Hive Enterprises ecosystem

   Rachael introduces Hive Enterprises as an overarching multi-venture platform built to break limiting cycles, unleash human potential, and drive systemic impact. She walks through the three connected entities: HiveSMART Consulting as the business transformation engine, HiveHEALTH as a newer health venture, and HiveSTRONG as the nonprofit their profits fuel. All commercial work is designed to fund the mission of supporting survivors of abuse and human trafficking, which is why the enterprise operates as profits for a purpose.

3. Chapter 3·01:41

   Origin story and the leap into consulting

   Rachael launched the company in early 2024 after a run in private equity and global public company leadership. She stepped back, cashed out equity, wrote a book, and stood up the nonprofit. Not wanting to build it by asking for donations, she chose to earn the revenue instead. Consulting engagements picked up in the fall of 2024 and quickly took off, forming the commercial spine of the enterprise.

4. Chapter 4·02:29

   Building the team

   Today the enterprise runs with 38 consultants working across sectors, roughly 10 people supporting the nonprofit, and a core shared-services group that operates cross-functionally across all entities.

5. Chapter 5·02:55

   12x growth in year one

   Rachael describes the founding partnership with Miranda and Bridgette, saying yes to friends who needed help solving big problems. That yes turned into 12x growth in the first year. Engagements that were designed as 90-day sprints became ongoing, year-over-year relationships at a 100% recurring rate because the team kept delivering value and building client capability. The success of HiveSTRONG, including a 100% safe leave record and $90,000 donated from the enterprise, made the case that the model works — and set the stage for HiveHEALTH.

6. Chapter 6·05:36

   Profits for a purpose

   The nonprofit is the why underneath every commercial engagement. The team loves making money and loves helping other businesses make more of it, because those dollars go to work in a mission the whole organization believes in.

7. Chapter 7·06:03

   How the business grows: relationships first

   Growth still comes primarily through relationships and referral networks. The team is now evolving from founder-led growth into a more systemic channel model, expanding through business-to-business partners and key vertical categories, while keeping trust and relationships at the center of every conversation.

8. Chapter 8·06:50

   How Hive uses AI

   Rachael calls the team early adopters who are also disciplined about risk. With HR, board governance, and HIPAA-sensitive HiveHEALTH data in the mix, they built a Hive-approved, vetted framework and an integrated ecosystem that leverages AI while keeping humans in the loop on key processes. AI is used to identify ICPs, automate internal processes, and accelerate insights. What Hive will not do is AI-automated outbound, because the business is relationship and trust centric. She shares an example where four focused hours produced roughly $400,000 of client value at market rates.

9. Chapter 9·09:02

   The real constraints on growth

   Rachael notes that growth rarely breaks one thing — it stresses everything at once. The first constraint was bandwidth and structure, which they addressed by redesigning roles, tightening asynchronous communication, and rebuilding key processes. The second constraint is the discipline of focus and execution: staying on the five-year plan (currently running to 2029), not starting a new company every year, and making the hard calls on people and priorities when there is drift.

10. Chapter 10·11:06

    Co-founders and the Hive analogy

    Rachael says the enterprise would not exist without co-founders Miranda and Bridgette. The name Hive is intentional: hives are one of nature's oldest organizational systems, and each partner plays a distinct role in key decisions. There is a high degree of trust and mutual respect, which allows them to pause, integrate a different point of view, and reach better decisions at critical inflection points.

11. Chapter 11·12:35

    What excites her about the next stage

    She is most excited about amplifying the ecosystem. HiveSTRONG, HiveSMART, and HiveHEALTH may look unrelated on the surface, but they share a through line: the science of how human beings lead, transform, and navigate pressure. As HiveHEALTH gains traction with businesses and communities, the enterprise becomes a stronger force multiplier for organizations and their leaders.

12. Chapter 12·14:04

    Lessons from the journey

    The biggest lesson Rachael names is the practice of pause and curiosity — especially when your money, your family's future, and your name are all on the line. As founder and CEO you are fully accountable, and events can be deeply activating. Having deeply trusted people around you is what makes it possible to pause, think clearly, and make the right call.

13. Chapter 13·15:29

    Advice to other leaders

    Rachael closes with a message she often shares with the leaders Hive coaches: success is a journey inward. Regardless of vertical, tenure, or ownership structure, taking care of yourself, keeping trusted people around you, and staying anchored to your purpose is what sustains both the business and the person leading it.

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Related resources from the Hive.

Episode Transcript

Full conversation, organized by chapter.

Recorded at Talent Sphere 2026.

1. Chapter 1·00:00

   Why authenticity matters in recruiting

   Bridgette Corridan joins the hosts at Talent Sphere 2026 and reflects on the vulnerability and authenticity she heard in an earlier branding session. She names both as superpowers in recruiting because they open up real conversations. She shares how she helped Christa and Natalie land their very first recruiting jobs years ago, and celebrates the community they built at Talent Collective to support women, ask better questions, and become stronger advisors and business people. She is at the event to support that mission and to lead a sound bath at the close of the day.

2. Chapter 2·01:23

   From talent leader to sound healer

   Bridgette walks through more than twenty years in talent, from agency work to coaching to building global in-house teams. Along the way she realized she was missing a deeper connection to her own purpose. The through line in her work is creating opportunities for people to expand, whether through a new role, a coaching conversation, or a sound bath. Rediscovering her voice led her to write and record an album, and eventually to use her voice as a healing instrument through chant and sound work. Today she brings consulting, business strategy, and sound healing together rather than keeping them separate.

3. Chapter 3·03:24

   Bringing your full self to LinkedIn

   She talks about the fear of putting sound healing on LinkedIn and worrying that senior leaders would question her credibility. What surprised her is that men often ask about it first, curious to learn more. Her encouragement to anyone listening is to get clear on who you are, what you value, and how you want to show up, then own it. The right people will find you, and the ones who think you are strange will simply not be your people.

4. Chapter 4·04:44

   Redefining professionalism

   The conversation turns to how the definition of professionalism was shaped by a very small group at the top who look nothing like most of the workforce. Expanding what professional looks like gives other people permission to do the same. Bridgette adds that she spent her twenties as a chameleon and hopes the next generation learns earlier that you do not have to keep contorting yourself to match a boss, a partner, or a room. Falling in love with who you actually are makes life feel easier and lets the right opportunities find you.

5. Chapter 5·06:15

   Why connection matters in talent

   She has stayed in talent because of the people. COVID reminded the industry how much connection matters. At Talent Sphere she is leading a panel on technology tools and closing the day with a sound bath, both grounded in the same intention: help people reconnect with themselves. The working world is loud right now, and it is easy to be pulled into the storm and feel powerless. Sound healing, meditation, and breath work bring people back to a place where they can choose how to show up.

6. Chapter 6·07:43

   The power of breath and mindfulness

   The hosts share a line from that morning's yoga class: the one thing you carry from the beginning of life to the end is your breath. Bridgette agrees that honoring the breath is a foundational practice, and the conversation lands in a therapy-session feel that everyone welcomes.

7. Chapter 7·08:19

   Blending consulting and healing work

   Asked what is next, Bridgette says she is in the stretch right now. After years of working inside organizations or consulting on her own, she co-founded a consulting firm focused on HR and business operations transformation. What makes it different is who she co-founded it with and the mission underneath it.

8. Chapter 8·09:35

   Building a social impact consulting company

   Her co-founder had started a nonprofit that supports people leaving abusive situations with wraparound services. On average it takes seven attempts to leave; with these services, the average drops to 1.4. Together they layered sound healing onto legal, financial, housing, and healing support. That partnership grew into HiveSMART, a consulting firm whose profits fund the HiveSTRONG nonprofit — a social enterprise by design.

9. Chapter 9·10:15

   Leading with compassion and curiosity

   Bridgette describes her next step as owning what it means to lead, using her own practice on herself first. She has more compassion for leaders now that she sits in the seat. Her aim is to keep building a clean leadership container and then teach it. She points listeners to HiveSMART, HiveSTRONG, and her personal work — guided meditations and sound healings on bridgettan.com and on Instagram — and commits to sharing more, even when it feels a little stretchy.

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Related resources from the Hive.