Ask Ashley · 2026-07-31 · 29 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
35 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
KK Mayo's journey from civil engineer to people operations executive at Ava Labs reveals how mentorship, openness to change, and empathy shape intentional workplace cultures. Having transitioned through Milgo Buffkin manufacturing, Blockchain.com, and Grubhub, Mayo discovered her passion for supporting employees rather than traditional engineering work. At Ava Labs - where she oversees people operations across 35 countries - she anchors diversity and inclusion initiatives in business cases rather than politics, emphasizing that diverse thinking drives innovation. Her practical approach includes launching Modern Health (a mental wellness app supporting global staff), implementing four-week sabbaticals after four years of service, creating psychological safety through manager transparency about bandwidth, and establishing feedback loops via surveys, listening sessions, and exit interviews. Mayo stresses that curiosity prevents uninformed decision-making and that successful cultures measure success through engagement metrics alongside the qualitative feeling that employees have clear paths forward with transparent goals and support. Her leadership philosophy, rooted in witnessing her mother's caregiving and strength after her father's ALS diagnosis, prioritizes protecting mental health and maintaining creative outlets (choreography) alongside demanding work.
Ava Labs launched Modern Health, a global app-based mental wellness platform that works across all 35 countries where employees and contractors operate, offering therapy, financial advice, life coaching, and career coaching rather than just traditional therapy.
Frame diversity and inclusion around the business case - that diverse thought strengthens innovation and team performance - rather than political arguments, making it easier to secure budget and executive buy-in for programs like ERGs.
Curiosity is the foundational soft skill because it prevents uninformed decision-making; leaders who investigate the full scope of situations understand the ramifications of their choices and can learn and grow from them.
Success indicators include high engagement in meaningful programs, employees feeling they have clear paths forward with transparent goals, proactive rather than reactive responses to change, and a qualitative sense that people are treated as people rather than transactions.
After four years of service, employees receive four weeks of paid time off managed strategically across teams to ensure no productivity burden, designed as a rest and reset opportunity rather than a workload reduction.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
A handful of practically useful ideas surface - anchoring DEI in business case, the shelf life of feedback, strategic timing of benefit launches - but the majority of the episode is career autobiography and general affirmations that offer little a seasoned HR or people-ops leader hasn't already encountered.
feedback has a shelf life so it's something you have to act on quickly
I anchor it how I've Learned to do it at least for now always in the business case not the political one because it does have a tendency to derail conversation
The business-case framing for DEI and the shelf-life metaphor for feedback are the most distinctive ideas, but nearly everything else - mentorship importance, 'don't fear change,' curiosity as the top soft skill - recycles widely circulated HR thought-leadership without adding a genuinely contrarian or first-principles layer.
I anchor it always in the business case not the political one
feedback has a shelf life
KK Mayo is a legitimate people-ops practitioner with hands-on experience at Blockchain.com, Grubhub, and Ava Labs, and she speaks from real program ownership rather than theory; however, her seniority is mid-level rather than executive, and the depth of at-scale impact described is limited within the conversation.
I oversee people operations and general operations for companies and help things make more efficient and you know keep culture moving in the right direction
we launched Modern Health as an app it's a really great tool that works globally so we have a very global team we're in 35 different countries
The episode names concrete tools (Modern Health), real companies (Blockchain.com, Grubhub, Milgo Buffkin, Ava Labs, Spotify), and a specific program structure (four-week sabbatical after four years, 35 countries), which lifts it above pure abstraction; but there are no engagement metrics, retention data, cost figures, or measurable outcomes cited for any initiative.
we launched Modern Health as an app it's a really great tool that works globally so we have a very global team we're in 35 different countries
after four years you get to take four weeks off which I'm taking mine in July
The host's questions are broad and leading ('please share all you can on that subject'), virtually every answer is met with enthusiastic affirmation rather than a follow-up probe, and there is no instance of productive pushback or challenge to any claim made by the guest.
you are again just beautifully grounded incredibly wise and calm your disposition and someone I just truly truly truly loved getting to know
that's a that's a mic drop moment for me what an interesting way to frame curiosity
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
In this episode of *Ask Ashley*, host Ashley Russo sits down with the dynamic KK Mayo, a leader in people operations at Ava Labs, Inc. With a career that began in civil engineering and transitioned into the tech space, KK's journey is anything but conventional. Over the past decade, she has harnessed her passion for people and operations to foster inclusive workplace cultures and drive organizational efficiency. As she shares her insights, listeners will be fascinated by how mentorship, curiosity, and a commitment to mental health can transform not just individual careers, but entire teams. KK delves into the importance of feedback in shaping workplace initiatives, emphasizing that understanding employee needs is crucial for creating an engaging environment. She also highlights her innovative approaches to promoting mental well-being, including the launch of a global mental health support app at Ava Labs. As the conversation unfolds, listeners are invited to reflect on their own career paths and the value of embracing change, curiosity, and community support in their professional journeys.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
welcome to ask Ashley the podcast where we shine a light on the unsung heroes of the workplace I'm your host Ashley Russo financial AI board member thought leader and wealth management advisor each week we sit down with inspiring leaders exploring their journeys motivations and the real challenges they face from job insecurity to the evolving role of AI in a world where many feel overlooked these guests are building hope and connection for their colleagues join us as we uncover their stories and discover how they're making a difference one conversation at a time hello everybody I am here with a fascinating human who has had I'd call an unconventional professional journey lots to explore for lots to unpack please introduce yourself hi everyone I'm KK Mayo I have been a people leader now for I wanna say around 10 years it's been a it's been a minute um but I didn't start out that way but I work currently in web 3 at Ava Labs Inc and I've been in in and out of web 3 for the past eight years or so and yeah I oversee people operations and general operations for companies and help things make more efficient and you know keep culture moving in the right direction and and the needle moving on on growing that from a culture ad perspective yeah good well I have some insight into this but I'd love for you to share your career path so from your you know dual major in civil engineering and and and your your overall path here to leading people in tech what motivated these changes these transitions please share all you can on that subject yeah I definitely have an untraditional background to say the least it's always gets an eyebrow raise anytime I'm in an interview room or explaining it to someone I early on like when I was 7 17 figuring out where I wanted to go for school I knew that I was really passionate about dance at the time with my creative outlet but I also knew that you know wasn't necessarily a solid future The 1% of people that make it in that industry is real um it's a competitive landscape to enter so my mom and myself talked about it and we really wanted a backup and I love math and architecture at the time but I was not a good drawer and back then you had to be in order to go into architecture so now I looked into engineering at that time and civil engineering seemed like a great fit and I actually ended up going through with it all from the beginning to the end I was able to graduate in four years after that world went I got out of it went into manufacturing right away it's about the only job I could get a toe in the door on unfortunately even compared to my peers who I had like higher CHPs with like this was a huge discussion topic and the gender bias of the industry back then was alive and well sadly and probably still very much is today but I found myself working at this company Milgo Buffkin which was a really great family run company we had a lot of gaps in how they navigated things and I ended up filling a lot of those gaps for them and learning a lot about how to operate a business and how to support people and that LED me to looking for a job in tech something that was a little more forward in technology something I was more interested in at the time and crypto came up from my brother he had been learning about it he mentioned Coinbase and this company blockchain.
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