Hidden Gems: Meet Anessa Fike of Fike + Co

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anessa Fike.

Hi Anessa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Early in my life, I saw what entrepreneurship looked like – my dad has his own business but I never thought I’d be an entrepreneur. Throughout my life, I’ve had an incredible amount of white privilege and a solid family support system, allowing me to take risks that other people may not have taken. Couple that with the fact that I was always looking to learn new things, get better at them, and then learn some more, and it truly is no surprise that I ended up as an entrepreneur. I didn’t see that outcome as part of my journey until it was thrown before me.

I studied journalism, business, and English at Penn State University in State College, PA, after starting in biology, switching to engineering, and then switching to advertising, only to land on writing and business as my focuses. After college, my first professional job was as a newspaper reporter for a small town in Eastern North Carolina. I spent nearly 2 years there and won an NC press award for my work. But during that time, journalism was changing. Media was changing. Articles were starting to be put online, and newspapers still needed to learn how to charge for online content. And more and more words and stories were initially squeezed out to make more room for advertisements. So for a brief stint, I went to work with a friend who owned a bridal shop. She was having her second child and asked me to manage the shop while she took some time away. Of course, outside of my wedding and weddings of friends, I only knew a little about the bridal industry – but like everything else, I dove in and learned quickly.

In 2010, I had heard about a place called The Motley Fool – two brothers started a company years before that focused on giving individual investors information to invest their money themselves – and I had a friend at the time working there. She asked me to come and interview for a role opening up as an Executive Assistant to the President, Chief People Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. So I did – and I spent the first 6 months in that role, supporting those three executives and their teams. Then, as the person who had the quickest promotion time thus far at The Fool, I had a few options to either go down the Human Resources/People Operations path or work on the business, acquisition, and new venture side of the business.

I chose the People Operations side for whatever reason, and the rest is history. I quickly found that journalism and People Operations have a lot in common – you’re working with people, seeking to understand them, and helping tell their story or helping them develop their own story. I moved from Executive Assistant to Culture Clubista (we could create our titles at The Fool, and our People team at the time was called Culture Club – and yes, it was a reference to the CPO being a Boy George fan). There were three people in the People team at that time, and there were a lot of projects on the back burner that they still needed to get to. So I took those on. The CPO told me it’d likely take me 9-12 months to work through those projects, and I got them done in 3 months. Then, I asked, “What’s next?” So I tried my hand at recruiting and talent acquisition. I started to do more and more of the recruiting until I did all of the recruiting. Then I rebuilt the talent acquisition function and processes and reimagined onboarding several times. I ventured into other areas of HR – including compensation, benefits, development, org design, promotions, terminations, mentorship, learning and development, employee engagement, and HR law and compliance.

So in July of 2013, I officially started my own business – working mostly with recruiting clients at first and then adding more HR and People Operations elements later. Fast forward to today, and my business has been around for a decade this year – our 10th anniversary! I started as a solopreneur and have grown the business to include a small team. Over the last 10 years, we’ve worked with more than 100 companies worldwide, and I’ve led more than a dozen organizations as their Chief People Officer, Head of People, or Head of Talent and Culture.

Outside of the nearly 1 year I took maternity leave to have my wonderful son, I’ve worked full-time in the business since 2013, and we’ve been profitable from the very first year. We’ve worked mostly in the tech space – or with companies that have some element of technology in what they are working toward – and have worked with companies from seed rounds through pre-and-post-IPO and those companies that wish to remain private forever. We’ve also done several major mergers and acquisitions across both domestic and international workforces and helped companies turn around sinking ships to be profitable. I’ve grown the business to a multi-million-dollar business and now mentor other entrepreneurs worldwide. I’ve also been a keynote speaker at industry conferences and have been on many industry podcasts.

My husband joined me full-time in the business right before COVID hit – in Jan 2020. He has had a stellar career in HR leadership in his own right – he’s worked across many industries and with Fortune 50 firms. Currently, alongside my work as CEO of Fike+Co, I’m also a wife; a mom; an IDEA (Inclusivity, Disability, Equity, and Accessibility) Practitioner with NASA; a Board of Director with The Little Fox- Toby’s Foundation in Pittsburgh, PA; and on the Board of Advisors of NC Tech. This year, I’m working on writing a book around The Revolution of Work because it’s time we threw the Future of Work monikers in the trash – not enough has changed in how we all work, and it’s about dang time it did.

Alright, let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what challenges have you had to overcome?
It rarely is a smooth road when it comes to being a woman in business or a woman at any executive table, albeit for my whiteness, which gives me the privilege and legs up that others who aren’t white don’t have. I have sat at tables mostly filled with men and white men at that, and have held my own, gained their respect, and then earned their listening ears to my solutions for business problems. Entrepreneurship is also a struggle in itself – and unless you have a solid support system of people who know what you are going through, it’s tough and lonely. Luckily, I do have that support. My personal board of directors is full of strong women and men who are each amazingly gifted in something that I am not.

As you know, we’re big fans of Fike + Co. What can you tell our readers who might need to be more familiar with the brand?
Fike + Co is a boutique consulting firm specializing in interim or fractional People or HR leadership. We operate primarily as Chief People Officers that come in to help be the first People exec in the door at a company, or during a time when the CPO may be out on parental or other leave, or when a company needs to pivot their business model and adapt to a new era of business. We also work on the Talent side in terms of embedded recruitment or on the HR side with project work. All-in-all, if it has to do with HR or People or Talent, we’ve seen it and done it – from small companies to large Fortune 50 organizations. We are progressive People leaders that help companies create workplaces where all humans can thrive. We don’t just talk the talk when it comes to assisting companies in creating psychologically safe spaces where people feel like they don’t have to wear a mask to do their jobs – we work with companies to walk the walk and make real change for the better of every one of their employees now and for those to come.

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Keep going, and never dull your sparkle.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fikeandco.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fikeandco/?hl=en
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anessafike/

Image Credits
Lindley Battle Photography.