MEET MARLA

Marla Saxton’s passion for purposeful workplace culture is driven by her dedication to the processes it takes to build them. She specializes in strategy execution–with a special focus on experiential design–to transform workplace visions into realities. Marla leverages her experience in internal operations and external client service–and the intersection of the two—to provide distinct perspectives and help clients pre-solve the predictable problems bound to arise on their journey toward a healthy, thriving workplace.

With a foundation as a communication strategist and more than a decade of experience in roles dedicated to improving engagement, adoption, and accountability, Marla works as a practical partner to operationalize organizational mission, vision and values into tangible behaviors and clearly stated expectations. Her approach is holistic and weaves together the functions of recruiting and employer branding, onboarding and new hire experience, development and training, internal communication, and recognition and rewards.

Marla served as a general manager for one of the country’s largest retail-led, mixed-use developers. She was the people-strategy manager at one of the top 50 accounting firms in the United States where she focused on workplace design; additionally, she worked as a brand strategist and project manager for the longest-running creative agency in the state of Mississippi.

Marla’s focus is ensuring the quality of employees’ daily work experience as well as the integrity of company culture. She works with all organizational levels, but she specializes in middle management enrichment. “Middle management is the heartbeat of an organization. If middle management can help employees navigate challenges by clearing paths for opportunities, leading to success toward the company’s mission and vision, that’s where you see culture come alive,” Marla said.

Marla earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a Master of Business Administration from Mississippi State University. She is also a graduate of the Disney Institute’s Approach to Employee Engagement program.