Every business leader can build, because we operate.
Our mission
LionsPride Associates™ moves a business leader's operations out of their memory and into systems their team can follow. We place the assistants who run those systems, and we train them through the LION Method™.
Our values
Equity
The leader is at the center, not the tools. The assistant has a craft, not a task. We build pipelines for people the industry overlooks.
Excellence
We fact-check. We rely on data. We design systems that live beyond our role, and we do not trade accuracy for speed.
Integrity
Not all money is good money. We turn down work from clients who put money over people or who are not serious about diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Wendy Hernández, M.Ed.
CEO & Founder
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Boston, MA
- B.A. Human Resources Management and Writing, UMass Amherst; full academic Talented Minority Scholarship
- M.Ed., Boston Teacher Residency at UMass Boston
- Massachusetts educator licenses in Moderate Disabilities and English
- Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses alum
Wendy started her career as a top-biller agency recruiter, then moved in-house at a multimillion-dollar global footwear brand and a national food manufacturer. That is where she learned to screen, source, and read a résumé for transferable skills instead of pedigree.
She transitioned into education and spent ten years inside Boston Public Schools under the leadership of Dr. Lindsa McIntyre, Deputy Chief of Schools. Wendy ran operations for two years, taught special education and English literature for six, and ended her tenure as an instructional coach. She was part of the team that took the Burke High School out of state turnaround status, the only high school in Massachusetts ever to do so.
She founded LionsPride to set a higher standard for the profession and to keep it a viable career in the United States.
Wendy could not get hired.
She had spent years in recruiting, deciding who got interviewed. Then ten years running operations and teaching in Boston Public Schools. When she left education to return to executive and operations support, nobody called her back. She had done the job. She had screened and hired for it. Her résumé looked overqualified.
So she hired herself. Then she noticed a bigger problem. Leaders were getting generic templates instead of support built for them. She delivered it differently, centered on the leader and not the tool. In education, when every student in the room learns differently, you stop looking for one way that works for everyone. You learn to read the person in front of you and build around them. That is differentiated instruction, and it is the principle behind Differentiated Operations™.
The generic approach had a cost. Leaders disengaged from their assistants and started shipping the role to whoever would take the lowest number. A job that was once the path into business was closing.
Because the executive assistant role is one of power and access, we believe unapologetically that it should be invested in and developed here in the United States. So with a team of eclectic skills, we set out to change the standard. Excellence lives in the training, not in the résumé. That is the LION Method™, the certification we built to teach assistants to design support around how a leader thinks and works.
Our story is one of equity. Leaders deserve support designed for them. Assistants deserve a profession that develops the skills their leaders rely on. Our workforce deserves to be protected.
The team
Shantal Risk
Chief of Staff
- New York, NY
- B.S. Communications and Rhetorical Studies, Syracuse University
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Shantal runs day-to-day operations at LionsPride. She leads our staff, LPA Operations Reset™ engagements, and vendor relationships. She spent three years in staffing at a recruitment agency in Boston, MA, running background checks, reference calls, and skills assessments. That is where our screening standards come from.
Rebecca Nichols
Sr. Executive Assistant
- Auburndale, Florida
- B.A. Technical Theatre and Business Management, Florida Gulf Coast University
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Rebecca supports clients across event planning, project coordination, communications, and scheduling. Rebecca has worked across diverse industries, from managing national programs and sporting events at the American Power Boat Association to overseeing theatrical productions and corporate communications in the Professional Theatre Industry. She has a passion for creating seamless experiences, navigating challenges, and building strong relationships.
Monica Changeux
Executive Assistant
- Vallejo, CA
- B.S. Industrial and Systems Engineering, Lehigh University
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Monica supports mission-driven leaders across education and nonprofit work. She came to executive support from operations management at Amazon, where she ran delivery operations and compliance auditing. She is fluent in Spanish, and she builds the systems her clients run on.
Interested in being part of the team? Click below to fill out our pre-assessment form.
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Some coverage predates our current name.
2026 Extraordinary Latinas Awards
Nominee, Amplifying Voices United Latinas
2026 Extraordinary Latinas Awards
Affiliations
Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
Zenagos
Founders First
Boston Business Women
AIM
Boston While Black
ALPFA
Mass LGBT Chamber
Nectar
Charles River Chamber
United Latinas
