Cayla Spear

Senior Director of People and Culture

With a decade of experience, Cayla knows that prioritizing empathy, growth, and transparency creates a thriving workplace for all. As the inaugural Senior Director of People and Culture, Cayla serves our writers as people first, with a focus on employee engagement, culture development, and DEI.

Prior to West Wing Writers, Cayla acted as the Associate Director for Human Resources to the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a world-respected human rights and social justice organization. While at WOLA, she worked as their first-ever people and culture expert, tasked with integrating human resources into all facets of the organization. She also merged her passion for IDEAS (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Social Justice) with operations, and even created a paid internship program, one of the few in the public policy space.

Her professional career began two weeks after graduation when she left for Peace Corps Kenya. She served as a public health volunteer and supported numerous gender-based initiatives, including Camp MAP (Men as Partners). After returning from the Peace Corps, Cayla became a proctor for the Senate Page Program, where she worked with teenagers from across the country to support their entry into the legislative process. Before WOLA, she supported staff in a contracting firm working primarily with the US Marshals, acting as their first onsite HR representative.

Cayla graduated magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina with a double major in Gender Studies and Anthropology and a minor in Sociology. Cayla now lives in Baltimore with her husband, Adam. You’ll likely find her gardening, reading, or playing video games.