Our Story
As the world we knew ended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we boarded up our businesses and laid off thousands of employees, so many businesses didn't have the HR team/resources/expertise to know how to handle the impending crisis. Without the right tools to know how to shut their businesses down properly and abide by the laws and regulations, they were basically helpless in a time where everyone was afraid of what would come next. We received calls from friends in every industry asking for help, and donated countless hours of time to ensure that they were taking the necessary steps to survive the unknown.
As the months passed by and we watched the hospitality industry fall apart, it broke our hearts and we knew we needed to do something to help our community rebuild. It became what we call the HR apocalypse. We realized there was never a more important time for HR, People & Culture, and Payroll than right now, and that we wanted to shift our focus to helping businesses rebuild/redesign/reinvent/audit and be a part of positive change as everyday was so unknown. Thus, Powerhouse HR was officially born!
We have watched so many businesses struggle to take care of themselves, their employees, and their visions during this time, and we know that we can help them thrive now, during & post COVID, and into whatever the new normal becomes. Many businesses cannot afford to hire a full-time HR team, but they can certainly invest in guidance to either help them get where they need to be or help them find and train someone internally so that they can be the HR resource they can call on.
- Jen Hooper, Founder
Meet the Founder of PHHR
Jen Hooper
Founder & CEO
Jen Hooper was most recently the Vice President of Human Resources for TAO Group Hospitality, a leading hospitality company that develops, owns and operates many of the world’s most successful food, beverage and nightlife entertainment venues. TAO Group boasts operations in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
In her role, the Las Vegas resident oversaw more than 6,000 staff across more than 30 venues across the US. She became the first female Vice President of TAO Group in 2017 after joining the company as Director of HR for the Las Vegas properties in 2009. She continued growing her role and her team, taking on responsibilities for the New York venues and then Los Angeles and Chicago as TAO Group Hospitality expanded into new markets and joined forces with Hakkasan.
As the VP of Human Resources, Hooper directed all aspects of People & Culture along with Payroll. She spent time coaching and counseling employees, hiring, managing benefits, training, payroll and continuously focused on staying up to date on the hot topics in the industry and the always changing regulations and state specific laws across all geographic markets.
The Chicago native began her career as a recruiter for a law firm before moving to Florida, for her first foray into hospitality as a HR and Training consultant for luxury resorts. The job took her to Las Vegas for a two-week project that was extended, and she ended up loving the city and meeting her husband which then made Las Vegas home. She was hired as Director of HR with Charlie Palmer’s restaurant group and was later recruited to join TAO Group’s Las Vegas office.
In 2018, she was named to Greenspun Media’s 40 Under 40 list, which celebrates young Southern Nevada executives making a different professionally and in the community. Hooper was very involved with TAO Group Cares, the charitable arm of the company, helping to mobilize staff to contribute to causes near and dear to the employees.
For over 15 years, Hooper has wanted to start her own company and has applied every learning experience to launching her own company. In 2020 she got the chance to dive into her locally owned restaurants and helped her own operations teams to navigate the pandemic by helping to convert one of her spots into a market to support the community. It was there that she further learned that HR leaders who understand and have the ability to eat, breathe and sleep operations can truly be an elevated asset to business operators as a whole.