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A team you can call before the hard part

A conversation nobody wants to have. Managers leading teams they were never trained to lead. HR that has not kept up with the headcount. Growth makes all three harder, and that is why we built Third Voice.

If any of this sounds familiar

None of it means anything has gone wrong. This is what growth looks like from the inside, and it tends to stay invisible right up until somebody asks a question nobody on staff can answer. Noticing it is the hard part. The rest is fixable.

About us

Amy kept noticing the same pattern. Managers came to her the day before a hard meeting, and what they needed was not policy. They needed to know what they were going to say, in what order, and what to do when the person across the table reacted. Eventually she wrote it down as a framework.

Denise spent twelve years as a business partner asking a related question of every plan that crossed her desk: what happens if this goes sideways? After two decades, mostly in employee relations, she had learned that the answer to that question decides more than the plan does.

We started Third Voice because both of those questions kept going unanswered inside organizations that could not justify a full-time expert to answer them. That is the entire reason this practice exists, and it is still the work.

What we bring

50+
years in HR between us
5
industries, from public agencies to agriculture
15+
of those years as an HR business partner

Certifications and credentials

  • PHR, HR Certification Institute
  • SHRM-SCP, Senior Certified Professional
  • Leading at the Speed of Trust, FranklinCovey
  • HR Management
  • EEO Investigations
  • MS, HR Management

California employment law is our home ground. We are HR practitioners rather than attorneys, and we will tell you plainly when a question belongs with employment counsel instead of with us.

Who you’ll be working with

Between the two of us the work divides fairly cleanly, and it is usually obvious which of us a situation belongs to. If it is not, we will work that out rather than making you guess.

Denise Farrell, Employee relations, HR operations, leadership coaching

Denise Farrell

Denise is a seasoned HR leader with more than three decades of experience in HR operations, leadership coaching, employee relations, and organizational development, fifteen of them as an HR business partner. She partners with leaders to align operational compliance and people strategies with business priorities, strengthen leadership capability, and cultivate cultures where employees feel valued and perform at their best.

Recognized for her clarity, emotional intelligence, and practical approach, Denise guides managers through complex challenges, improving engagement, accountability, and team performance. Her background includes high-stakes investigations, organizational change, and broad HR operations, with deep expertise in union environments and labor agreement interpretation.

She holds an education in Organizational Behavior, an HR Management certification from UC Santa Cruz, a leadership coaching certification from Innovative Edge, and an EEO and AAP investigations certification from the State of California. Denise is dedicated to helping leaders communicate effectively, navigate conflict, and build high-performing teams grounded in trust and integrity.

Bring Denise the decision you are about to make and are not certain about.

Amy Gremore, Difficult conversations, manager coaching

Amy Gremore

Amy Gremore is a senior HR leader, executive coach, and trusted advisor with more than 20 years of progressive leadership experience across public agencies, higher education, tech, manufacturing, and agriculture. She holds the SHRM-SCP and PHR certifications and a master’s degree in human resources management.

Throughout her career, Amy has worked at the intersection of people, leadership, communication, and business, helping leaders navigate complex employee relations issues, organizational change, workforce planning, performance management, compliance, leadership development, and difficult conversations. In her current HR leadership role she supports multiple agricultural operations and advises leaders across a diverse workforce, while also contributing to company-wide HR initiatives and strategic projects.

What has consistently set Amy apart is her ability to bring clarity to situations that are emotionally charged, complicated, or difficult to communicate. She is known for being direct without being harsh, empathetic without avoiding the truth, and practical when others feel stuck.

That experience became the foundation for Third Voice’s difficult conversations work, which exists to help individuals and organizations communicate difficult messages with greater clarity, professionalism, and dignity. Whether the challenge involves leadership communication, workplace transitions, boundary-setting, or a sensitive situation, Amy helps clients find the right words, settle on an approach, and move forward with confidence.

Her work is grounded in a simple belief: difficult conversations do not have to become destructive conversations. With the right preparation, language, and perspective, even hard messages can be delivered with honesty, empathy, and respect.

Bring Amy the conversation you have already moved twice on your calendar.

Four things you can hold us to

  1. 01

    We tell you what we think

    Including when it is not what you were hoping to hear, and including when the problem turns out to be somebody you like. Being agreeable is not the service.

  2. 02

    We say when it is not us

    If a matter needs employment counsel or an independent investigator, we name that early rather than bill our way toward it.

  3. 03

    You work with us

    There is no account team. Denise and Amy do the work themselves, and nothing gets handed down after the first meeting.

  4. 04

    We stay through the hard part

    The plan is not the deliverable. Being there for the conversation, and for the week after it, is the point.

How to start

We are based in Chico and work throughout the North State, across California, and remotely. Starting is the same wherever you are.

See what we do

  1. 01

    We set up a time to talk

    In person or on a call, whichever is easier. The point is to understand where you are actually running into roadblocks, which is rarely where it looks like from outside.

  2. 02

    We agree on the approach

    What we would do, what it would take, and whether we are the right people for it at all. If we are not, we will say so on that first call and point you at somebody better.

  3. 03

    We do the work with you

    A plan built for your organization rather than lifted from the last one. Then we are there for the work itself, getting you ready to lead it or sitting in the room while you do.

You do not have to work out what kind of problem it is first.

Tell us what is happening. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right people for it, and point you somewhere better if we are not.

Start a conversation