Mary Despe de Echemendia

Why do I coach?

I coach because I know what it’s like to feel like you’re working hard, contributing great things to a team, but still questioning if you have something valuable to offer, because you're not the loudest in the room, nor the obvious choice for something. For a long time, I felt I had to be someone I wasn’t to standout, and it took time to realize that my authentic strengths and talents were enough to succeed and make the kind of impact I wanted to be known for. A life changing moment for me was when I made more in my first commission-only role within a month than I had in my previous two years of W2 employment -- and I did it authentically, leading with who I was and not act like everyone else. It was an incredible feeling to see my personal belief that I could do it become reality - I now had the actual, tangible data that showed I could succeed - and do so leading in my work style & personality - the areas I had downplayed or try to change before. It was such a liberating feeling to recognize this - this is something I'd love to help bring to others trying to reach their goals. Now, I coach to help others recognize their unique value, embrace their authenticity, and unlock and thrive in the opportunities they truly deserve. I have a special affinity for awesome professionals who feel unseen and undervalued in the workplace because of their introverted backgrounds or unique, unusual histories. Helping people step into their potential and thrive is what drives me every day to do this work.

Work Experience

Career Transition & Leadership Coach

RiseSmart

November 2022 - December 2024

• Supported over 400 experienced and management-level professionals through outplacement and career transition strategies, resume/LinkedIn optimization, interview skills, networking, and compensation negotiation, with a focus on career pivots, including freelance and entrepreneurship in their career development. Collaborated with professionals to design techniques focused on effective interpersonal communication, visibility and networking development, and negotiation tactics. • Provided training and coaching for management at Fortune 500 technology and enterprise companies to deliver layoff notification and performance improvement plan conversations. Focused on strategies to balance organizational objectives with compassionate leadership, effective interpersonal and team communication, performance management and support. • Facilitated ongoing professional development sessions for employee workforce around performance review management, goal setting, stress management, and team communication and constructive interaction. Discussion topics on leadership skills, communication, self-advocacy, personal brand and presence, and career advancement, consistently achieving high client satisfaction ratings over a 12-month period.

Recruitment Consultant

Deloitte

January 2022 - October 2022

• Cultivated talent pipelines of candidates for technical and functional positions for all US geographic locations, including Architects, Delivery Managers, Consultants, Specialist Masters, Leaders (Senior Architects), Developers, Business Analysts, Software Engineers, DevOps and Security Analysts, Data Scientists and Analysts. • Built strong rapport with manager- to director-level candidates through targeted engagement and representation at virtual job fairs, sourcing top talent for Salesforce technical roles, Project and Program Managers, and Sales Enablement professionals through passive recruitment techniques online and through hybrid community events and user groups. Consistently exceeded sourcing goals by 10% weekly. • Conducted initial behavioral screening interviews of technical and management candidates, collaborated with hiring managers and interviewers to elicit feedback and evaluation from interview panels and initiate hiring actions with internal talent acquisition partners aligned with onboarding. • Served as Recruitment Consultant through TCWGlobal to Deloitte for lead sourcing specialist contract engagement.

Talent Acquisition & Recruitment Consultant

Accenture

November 2019 - January 2022

• Managed full-cycle Salesforce recruitment for the West and Midwest regions, leveraging Workday HRIS to streamline processes from sourcing to onboarding. Skillfully facilitated complex discussions between candidates and senior executives, presenting compelling cases for hires while balancing executive feedback and organizational needs. Advocated for the potential impact of hires, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and securing approvals for key talent. • Led the recruitment team tasked with the redesign and roll-out of recruitment process for over 1,000 delivery drivers and warehouse roles for a major transportation client needed for seasonal hiring. Facilitated process design sessions with the client and cross-functional teams to identify improvements and ensure adoption. Managed a team of six recruiters, driving performance through coaching and metrics analysis. Served as the main point of contact for the offshore team, ensuring accurate and efficient execution of hiring, compliance, and onboarding activities. • Served as Talent Acquisition and Recruitment Consultant through BC Forward for various recruitment projects for Accenture.

Career & Leadership Coach

MK Despe Consulting LLC

June 2019 - Present

Though I've coached professionals on a part-time basis since 2019, I made the jump to making this a full-time endeavor since 2022. Since then, I've worked with professionals at every stage of their career, from early stage to the very experienced and close-to-retiring folks, in working to help reach the career advancement and other goals they've set for themselves in whatever's next, including exploring career pivots, getting promoted, negotiating salary increase and schedule changes, improving professional visibility and influence, working with difficult co-workers and managers, leading teams, establishing a successful side hustle or independent consulting work, and more.

Recruitment Firm Owner & Consultant

MK Despe Consulting LLC

March 2013 - June 2019

• Managed full-cycle recruitment for healthcare, technology, management, and business professionals, placing candidates in W2 roles, contract, and 1099 engagements across North America, Europe, and Australia. • Developed and streamlined HR processes and performance management systems, serving as a subject matter expert in implementing recruitment modules within Workday, Taleo, and other applicant tracking systems. • Led business development efforts and functioned as the main point of contact between executives, directors, legal teams, and managed service providers to improve the hiring process. Collaborated closely with firm owners, hiring managers, and interview panels to reduce time-to-fill, improve candidate outreach, optimize interview practices, and create competitive job offers.

Education

Hult International Business School

MBA, General Management

2006 - 2006

Activities and societies: HAPEC. Joint coursework with the Carroll School of Management, Boston College. GPA: 3.18/4.0

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Bachelor of Arts, Political Science

Major: Political Science Concentration: Communication studies 3.37/4.0

Harvard Extension School

Graduate Certificate, CSS - Human Resources Development

Graduate Certificate -CSS Administration & Management (36 graduate credit hours) Concentration: Human Resources Development GPA: 3.77/4.0