Welcome to Sunstone
HR Leadership for Growing Companies — Without Adding to Your Payroll
We partner with founders, CEOs, and CFOs to build HR functions that actually work. Whether you're scaling past your first 25 employees, carrying HR as a side duty, or stuck with a setup that's not keeping up, we diagnose what's broken, build what's missing, and give you a clear roadmap to fix it.
Built HR functions from 0 to scale | Trusted by growing companies across industries
Miami-based, working nationwide | No long-term contracts required
WHO WE WORK WITH
Built for Leaders Who Can't Afford to Get People Decisions Wrong
Most of our clients come to us at an inflection point. They're growing fast, facing a compliance risk they don't fully understand, losing good people and not sure why, or just realizing that the HR setup that worked at 15 employees is breaking at 40. If any of these sound familiar, we should talk.
Founders scaling past 25 employees You've built the business. Now the people side is getting complicated — performance issues, hiring misses, a handbook that doesn't exist, managers who've never managed. You need structure without slowing down.
CEOs whose HR person just quit (or never existed) Your HR lead is gone, stretched thin, or was never really senior enough for what the business needs now. You need experienced HR leadership immediately — without a six-month executive search.
CFOs carrying HR as a side duty You inherited HR because no one else would take it. You're doing your best, but it's not your zone of genius and it's eating your time. We take it off your plate cleanly.
Business owners facing compliance exposure You suspect there are gaps — outdated policies, misclassified employees, documentation that wouldn't hold up, managers making decisions they shouldn't be making alone. We find them before they become lawsuits.
THE PEOPLE & CULTURE AUDIT
Before we recommend anything, we run a structured audit of your people function. In two to three weeks, you get a clear picture of what's working, what's broken, what's putting you at risk, and exactly what to fix first — in what order, and why.
What the audit covers:
Leadership & management effectiveness — where your managers are driving performance and where they're quietly killing it
Performance & accountability systems — whether your team actually knows what's expected and how they're measured
Turnover & retention drivers — why people are leaving (or disengaging before they leave)
Culture & engagement — what your team would say about working for you if no one was listening
Compliance & risk exposure — the documentation, policies, and practices that could cost you in a lawsuit or audit
What you walk away with
A clear written roadmap prioritizing every issue by urgency and impact, an estimated ROI on the top three fixes, and a 90-day action plan you can execute with or without us.
How We Work With You After the Audit
Every engagement is tailored. We don't sell packages — we build the right scope for your stage, your budget, and your pain points. Most clients start with the audit and then choose one of the engagement models below.
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Senior HR expertise embedded in your business, part-time. You get an experienced HR leader who attends your leadership meetings, owns your people strategy, and handles what a VP of HR would — at a fraction of the cost. Best for companies 30-200 employees without a senior HR hire.
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Predictable, on-call HR support for day-to-day issues: employee relations, compliance questions, manager coaching, documentation, and hiring guidance. Three tiers starting at $500/month. Best for companies that need steady support without a full engagement.
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One-time work with a defined scope and deliverable: handbook builds, investigations, recruiting systems, HRIS implementation, compliance documentation. Best for a specific problem you need solved now.
WHY SUNSTONE?
Why Founders Choose Sunstone
We tailor the scope — you don't pay for what you don't need Most HR firms sell packages. We listen first, diagnose what you actually need, and build a scope that matches. No inflated retainers, no paying for services that don't apply to your business.
We don't just advise — we implement Plenty of consultants hand you a 40-page strategy deck and disappear. We do the work. We build the handbook, run the investigation, coach the manager, sit in the hard conversation. You get execution, not theory.
We've built HR functions from zero Our founder built people functions from the ground up at growing businesses before launching Sunstone. We've been in your seat. We know what a scaling company actually needs at 20, 50, 100 employees — and what's premature.
We take it off your plate without adding to payroll You get senior HR leadership, real execution, and a team behind you — without a six-figure salary, benefits, or a bad hire you then have to manage out. That's the whole point.
Testimonials
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Brandon Vega | Tech Innovators, Inc.
Working with Sunstone HR Advisors transformed how we manage our team. They helped us design a performance management system aligned with our business goals while fostering accountability and engagement.
Since implementing their recommendations, turnover has decreased and morale has significantly improved. Their tailored approach and practical guidance have been instrumental as we continue to grow.
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Chris Wei | Creative Solutions LLC
Partnering with Sunstone HR Advisors showed us how critical a strong HR strategy truly is. They guided us through compliance challenges and helped us build a culture that attracts and retains top talent.
The HR Health Check was eye opening and gave us a clear roadmap aligned with our growth objectives. Their support has been invaluable as we work toward becoming an employer of choice.
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Karen Weiss | Green Ventures
Sunstone HR Advisors took the time to understand our unique challenges and delivered a culture and engagement strategy that truly resonated with our team.
The manager training sessions were especially impactful, equipping our leaders with practical tools to support high performance. Since implementing their recommendations, employee satisfaction has increased and turnover has declined.
Meet Melissa
Melissa Alvarez is the founder of Sunstone HR Advisors. She's spent her career building HR functions from the ground up at growing companies — the kind of work most HR leaders never get the chance to do. She started Sunstone because she saw the same pattern everywhere: founders and CEOs carrying people problems they shouldn't have to carry, paying full-time salaries for part-time needs, or getting advice from firms that never actually do the work.
Sunstone is built on a bench of senior HR leaders trained to the same standard, so every client gets the same level of thought, judgment, and execution — whether the engagement is two hours a month or twenty.
Let's Figure Out What You Actually Need.
Every conversation starts with a free 30-minute call. No pitch, no pressure. We'll listen to what's going on, tell you honestly whether we can help, and — if we can — walk you through exactly how we'd approach it.
Or email Melissa directly at melissa@sunstonehradvisors.com | (305) 859-1763