My Story

I’m Briana, and I’m so glad you’re here.

Positively Hygge grew out of more than two decades of working alongside leaders and teams through growth, change, transformation, and the everyday complexity of getting work done through people.

For most of my career, I’ve worked at the intersection of consulting and senior HR leadership. As a consultant, I partnered with leaders to design structures, governance, and change approaches intended to create greater clarity and alignment.

Later, working inside organizations, I had the opportunity to bring those ideas to life alongside executives and teams—and see what actually held up day to day.

Over time, I started to notice a pattern. The teams that performed best didn’t just have the right strategy or structure. There was trust. People understood what was expected and had room to make decisions. Responsibility was shared. And people felt connected to what they were trying to accomplish together.

That’s where something clicked for me.

Culture wasn’t separate from the work. It was the work.

Not as an initiative or a set of programs, but as the conditions that shape how people show up, make decisions, solve problems, and move things forward together.

And often, some of the answers were already there. There were teams where things worked. Leaders who created the right conditions. Moments when people stepped up, collaborated differently, or found a better way forward.

I became increasingly interested in those bright spots—and what we could learn from them.

That perspective was shaped in a different way during the decade I spent living and working in Denmark.

I experienced workplaces where trust, autonomy, collaboration, and shared responsibility were woven into everyday ways of working. Leaders didn’t need to have all the answers. Decisions could happen closer to the work. And there was often an expectation that when people were given clarity and trust, they would take responsibility for moving things forward.

At the time, I wasn’t trying to label any of it. I was simply paying attention to what worked.

Over the years, I began connecting those experiences with what I was seeing across consulting and HR leadership in U.S.-based and global organizations.

Different environments. Different cultures. Different challenges.

But many of the same questions kept showing up.

Do people understand where the organization is going and how their work contributes? Is there enough trust for people to speak honestly? Are roles and decisions clear without becoming overly controlled? Can teams collaborate across boundaries? Do leaders create the conditions for people to take ownership, particularly when things are changing?

Those questions eventually became the foundation for a framework I call the Five Hygge Culture Anchors—and for Positively Hygge.

Today, I work as a People Leader & Strategic Advisor, partnering with leaders and organizations through consulting, fractional leadership, and strategic advisory work.

I bring together more than 20 years of experience across management consulting and senior HR leadership with a perspective shaped by a decade living and working in Denmark. I ask questions, listen across perspectives, connect dots, and help leaders make sense of the interplay between people, strategy, structure, leadership, culture, and performance.

At its core, Positively Hygge reflects a simple belief:

Organizations perform at their best when people have the conditions to do their best work.

That’s where high performance can feel human.

Outside of work, I’m based in the D.C. area—coaching volleyball, leading Girl Scouts, tackling DIY projects (with a growing collection of power tools), and exploring local bars and restaurants with friends. You’ll also find me at my favorite place to hygge with family: a small lake in upstate New York.

Basically, I enjoy a challenge and don’t sit around much.

Curious about some of the experiences that have shaped how I think about people, teams, leadership, and work? You’ll find more of them on the blog.