The Journey Behind ZenWave
Discover the inspiring journey of our CEO and founder, from her early vision to building a company that's transforming how we think about hiring and human connection.
Scroll to read her story
"It didn't start with strategy decks or funding rounds. It started with breath—or rather, the moment I almost lost it..."
In December 2023, I survived a pulmonary embolism that nearly ended my life. An entire clot was pulled from my lungs and heart. The odds weren't in my favor, but grace was.
Lying in that hospital bed, everything that once felt urgent—metrics, meetings, momentum—fell quiet. That moment forced a deeper question: Given this second chance, what am I truly here to build—and why now?
I didn't want to just return to work. I wanted to return with intention. To take all of my experience—20+ years in tech, recruitment, leadership—and breathe something new into it. Something rooted in truth, impact, and alignment. I wanted to build with heart.
In June 2024, my ride or die, Joshua, and I founded ZenWave. It wasn't just a company. It was a response, a reflection of how we live: with depth, clarity, kindness, and radical honesty.
ZenWave began with recruiting, yes, but not in the way the world was used to. We weren't interested in pushing resumes or playing the volume game. We were here to match people with purpose. To help companies grow consciously. To solve hiring challenges through systems thinking, relationship-building, and soul.
But something beautiful happened as we moved with intention: ZenWave evolved.
We realized we weren't just recruiters. We are Technologists. Strategists. Bridge-builders. We design experiences, not just filling roles.
We were building tech platforms to streamline hiring. Structuring orgs for scale. Leading transformations at the intersection of people and product. We had become a tech company with people who just happen to know how to recruit.
What we do now lives far beyond search. We help teams align with their mission. We help founders structure their first hires and Fortune 100s reimagine how they attract talent. We design systems, build products, and tell stories that elevate excellence, not just in companies, but in people.
ZenWave wasn't born from ambition. It was born from clarity. From knowing that if we're still here, we better make it matter. And every decision we make still comes from that same place.
This isn't just about hiring. It's about building what's next—with intention, with heart, and with legacy in mind.
Elevate excellence with us.
"We're just getting started. Every day, we're working to make hiring more human, more intuitive, and more meaningful for everyone involved."— Stephanie Gilbert
Today, Stephanie continues to lead ZenWave with the same passion and vision that started it all. Her commitment to human-centered technology drives every decision, every feature, and every interaction our platform enables.