Desiree Goldey
Desiree Goldey is a certified coach and founder of Do Better Consulting. She's spent her career challenging outdated norms in leadership and hiring, working with organizations to build cultures that are genuinely inclusive and effective, not just well-intentioned. Based in Austin, TX, she brings resilience, humor, and directness to the work. She co-hosts Talentless, a podcast on talent, leadership, and DEIB with Ashley King, CEO of DEI Labs, and her debut book, Leadership Is a Practice, Not a Personality, is out October 2026.
Who is Desiree Goldey?
Desiree Goldey is a certified coach and founder of Do Better Consulting. She's spent her career challenging outdated norms in leadership and hiring, working with organizations to build cultures that are genuinely inclusive and effective, not just well-intentioned. As a queer, Black woman, Desiree's lived experience shapes how she approaches leadership and consulting. Based in Austin, TX, she brings resilience, humor, and directness to the work. Founded on the mantra #dobetterpeople, Do Better Consulting tackles the real issues that get in the way of good leadership, homophobia, sexism, racism, and plain bad management, with practical strategy instead of platitudes. Desiree's debut book, Leadership Is a Practice, Not a Personality, is out October 2026. She also co-hosts Talentless, a podcast on talent, leadership, and DEIB with co-host Ashley King, CEO of DEI Labs.
What is Desiree Goldey known for?
Desiree is known for embedded recruiting operations, hiring manager enablement, and structured search frameworks — including the Search Kickoff Blueprint model requiring C-suite sign-off before a search opens. Her work spans Series B startups to $200M+ global talent advisory firms across SaaS, healthcare, finance, and GTM.
What does Desiree Goldey do?
She advises founders and talent leaders on hiring strategy and recruiting infrastructure through Do Better Consulting, serves as a Senior Consultant at HR Data Labs on workforce planning and compensation benchmarking, and advises RoundOne.ai as Head of Growth & Partnerships on AI-assisted candidate screening. She co-hosts the Talentless podcast with Ashley King.
Companies and Organizations
- Do Better Consulting — Founder & CEO
- HR Data Labs (HRDL) — Senior Consultant
- RoundOne.ai — Head of Growth & Partnerships (advisor)
- Talentless podcast — Co-host, with Ashley King
- HR-4U.org — Impact Officer & Board Member
Speaking and Media Topics
What it actually costs when hiring infrastructure is treated as an afterthought instead of a strategy.
Why most broken searches were broken before the job req was ever written.
The systems, not the headcount, that determine whether a TA team scales or breaks.
What separates a search that closes from one that stalls at month four.
Building inclusion into process design, not policy language.
Why growth-stage hiring problems are usually growth architecture problems.
Selected Interviews and Appearances
- The Recruitment Podcast (Recruit CRM), Episode 15 — "Desiree Goldey on Leading with Purpose", hosted by Kate O'Neill
- HR Data Labs — "Why Organizational Confusion Fails Employees"
- 15 Minutes With, Episode 33 — "Truth In Talent(less)"
- The Workfluencer Podcast — "What HR Podcasts Aren't Talking About", with co-host Ashley King
Awards and Recognition
- 2024 Top HR Innovator
- Most Inclusive HR Influencer Designation
Frequently Asked Questions
Official Links
- Do Better Consulting: https://dobetterconsulting.net
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/desireegoldey/
- LinkedIn (Do Better): https://www.linkedin.com/company/dobetterpeople/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dobettertalent/
- Talentless: https://www.talentlesspodcast.com/
- Talentless on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5dJTHlSWE1gkVINnMHDTUy
- Talentless on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/talentless/id1773853041