In this episode of Heart of the Brand, host Sam interviews Alexandra Bodnar, Chief Legal and People Officer at ThirdLove. ThirdLove demonstrates how combining legal and people functions creates a proactive cultural framework that prevents problems before they escalate. As an employment lawyer who transitioned into dual leadership, Alexandra has built a system where legal risk mitigation and people strategy work in tandem—resulting in a collaborative, mission-driven culture that scales across hybrid teams. Her approach proves that treating "all legal problems as people problems" creates stronger preventative systems than traditional reactive HR models, particularly for founder-led companies navigating product innovation and rapid market shifts.
Topics Discussed:
- Combining legal and people operations into a unified leadership function for proactive problem-solving
- Building mission-driven culture in consumer brands that attracts talent beyond the target customer demographic
- Designing hybrid work models that balance product collaboration needs with distributed team flexibility
- Creating Individual Employee Plans (IEPs) for every employee regardless of promotion timeline or seniority
- Implementing cross-functional interview processes to assess collaborative fit across departments
- Adapting employee engagement strategies for post-COVID workforce priorities (career growth over social events)
- Encouraging AI tool experimentation while managing data security and risk mitigation
- Scaling internal promotion pathways while strategically hiring external expertise for emerging capabilities
