Amanda Facelle Varellas
Senior Associate, Board Advisory and CEO Practice, New York
4 years at Spencer Stuart - Returned after 12 years
What did you do after you left Spencer Stuart?
I left Spencer Stuart to get my MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which was an incredible two years of honing my business acumen, forging lifelong relationships (including meeting my now husband!), and traveling the world. I spent my MBA internship with the merchandising group at Sephora and then joined Clorox full time in their brand management program. As a brand manager, I built a strong foundation in general management, P&L responsibility, and product marketing and innovation strategy for household consumer brands. I then took an opportunity to join Google so that I could hone my digital marketing and tech chops. It was an amazing experience and contrast to work with software engineers on very different product development lifecycles.
From Google, I had the chance to become the head of marketing at a vertically integrated children’s apparel company called Rockets of Awesome and to work directly with the founder. After she decided to sell the company, I joined two additional consumer-focused, founder-led startups as the head of marketing. While I loved the work, I encountered a lot of mixed experiences with leadership and was excited by the opportunity to come back to Spencer Stuart and work with companies to help ensure they have the best leaders in place to unlock the greatest performance for their organization.
When you’re not working, what are you doing?
When not working, my husband, Peter, and I are running around with our six- and four-year-old girls, Everett and Keely, and our dog, Roo. We love to travel, cook, swim and spend time at the beach, and sing along to K Pop Demon Hunters (if you know, you know).
What book, movie, or show would you recommend?
The first that comes to mind is the book I just finished: Hidden Potential by Adam Grant. It’s very inspirational because it is all about the methods by which anyone can achieve greater success. One of the most encouraging anecdotes centers on two people who thought they were terrible at learning languages and languished in years of Spanish class who are now 5-7 language polyglots!
For a fun read, I’ve been very into Louise Penny’s Detective Gamache series set in Quebec. There are 19 books in the series so far and I look forward to the new release every year.
And for anyone that loves an incredibly immersive and epic story, The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett is one of the best books I’ve ever read.
Why did you decide to return to Spencer Stuart?
I had only the fondest memories of my initial time at Spencer Stuart surrounded by some of the smartest, kindest people I’ve ever worked with and with an inimitable mentor, Jim Citrin. The experiences and learnings from my time as an analyst in the Board and CEO Practice provided me with a strong professional foundation that I’ve drawn from throughout my career. The opportunity to come back after 12 years and still have the chance to work with many former colleagues I greatly admire was a strong pull. I have also been so proud to see the evolution of the firm and all the amazing changes that make it an even better place. Also, given my natural curiosity and love of learning, I was excited to come back to the variety and range of clients that professional services offers.
What piece of advice would you offer to former employees who are thinking about returning to Spencer Stuart?
Come on in, the water is fine! In all seriousness, my return has surpassed even my highest expectations. Coming back to Spencer Stuart has been like coming home. My advice is that you should not discount how much your time away has taught you, the value that this external perspective can bring to your work here, and how fun it is to apply this knowledge in an advisory context. I truly believe the greatest strength of our firm’s greatest asset — our people — is the mix of those who have built their careers here paired with those that have come to Spencer Stuart from experiences outside of leadership advisory. It’s this combination and breadth of experiences that makes us the best at what we do. For anyone considering a return home, my door is always open to chat!
What excites you about the work you do?
I love meeting new people and connecting the dots between their skills and passions and our clients’ needs. I love the variety of the work across industries and sectors, and it’s also very rewarding to build specific areas of expertise and deep relationships in certain talent pools. As I mentioned, I love to learn and try new things, and I love that this work constantly provides the opportunity to tackle a new challenge.
What’s something you’ve learned recently that you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
I’d say this is something I’d often heard but had not truly internalized for myself, which is the power of identifying what you are truly good at and aligning these strengths to your work. This past year back at Spencer Stuart has taught me this. While there is obvious merit to applying your best effort to everything you do, the reality is — as we know from our work assessing talent every day — people have strong, natural spikes. If you are lucky enough to find a role that highlights and relies on these spikes, allowing your passion and skills to align, it creates the conditions for greater personal fulfillment. You can and should still have a development mindset and work to improve on the areas that aren’t strengths, but to have the opportunity to leverage your greatest strengths in your daily work is truly a privilege.