Rising Star: La’Jasmine Fitch and the Power of People-First Recruiting

La’Jasmine first came to KAI in 2019 as a contract recruiter. 7 years later, her role has grown far beyond filling open positions. Today, she helps shape how KAI connects with talent, builds trust with candidates and supports the people who will help carry Kuraray into its next 100 years.

Earning the Trust
When La’Jasmine started at KAI, she made it a priority to understand HR from the inside out. She set up one-on-one conversations across the HR team to understand the team’s process, their journey, and their role in the business. 

Over time, those conversations helped La’Jasmine build strong relationships across the organization, including with business leaders who trust her perspective and judgment when it comes to hiring and talent. In 2023, her focus expanded from recruiting for open roles to thinking more strategically about KAI’s long-term workforce needs.

“That challenge expanded everything for me. I get to shape what Talent Acquisition (TA) means to the organization and what we can build together over the next decade,” she says.

Building Relationships
As one of the first people candidates connect with, she sees every conversation as an opportunity to represent KAI with honesty, care, and follow-through. She finds the most joy in creating opportunities for others and in seeing interns grow into full-time employees, supporting the growth of strong talent within the organization. Working closely with the TA team, she brings a people-first approach to life through recruiting initiatives such as intern spotlights, “Day in the Life” features at the Fayetteville, NC and the Houston sites, and a refreshed careers page that highlights one of KAI’s greatest strengths: its people.

A Global Project
Through Kuraray’s Global Team Training (GTT) program in 2025, La’Jasmine joined a six-person, cross-functional team to develop a project proposal around a shared business challenge. She helped bring the team’s ideas together into one submission, gaining experience in global collaboration and broader business thinking.
The experience gave her a clearer view of the global opportunities she hopes to explore next, from understanding workforce needs across regions to learning more about long-term succession planning.

Looking Ahead
LaJasmine is focused on continuing to strengthen KAI’s people-first recruiting approach by enhancing the candidate experience at every touchpoint. She is passionate about expanding early career pipelines and creating more opportunities for individuals to join and grow within the organization.

Through these efforts, she is opening doors for people to build careers, grow with purpose, and become part of Kuraray's next 100 years.