Kelsey (Knight) Cera
Kelsey (Knight) Cera
Director Talent Acquisition, True Religion
Kelsey Cera shared that her career began in executive assistant and inside sales roles, where she discovered her passion for connecting with people and understanding business needs. While working in sales at Yelp, she enjoyed learning about client goals and finding the right solutions for them, but realized the sales aspect itself was not her long-term passion.
That realization led her into recruiting when she joined a staffing company in the Bay Area. There, she gained experience both recruiting for open roles and partnering directly with hiring managers. Kelsey explained that what drew her most to talent acquisition was the opportunity to connect deeply with people, understand their goals and ambitions, and help align them with the right opportunities.
As her career progressed, she especially valued working internally within organizations, where she could fully understand company culture, team dynamics, and hiring needs. She described recruiting as a uniquely rewarding profession because it allows her to connect with thousands of individuals while helping them find opportunities that align with both their skills and aspirations.
Influential Recruiting Leaders & Mentors
Kelsey reflected on several leaders who significantly shaped her approach to talent acquisition and leadership.
David Ard
Kelsey highlighted David Ard from Gap Inc. as an inspirational leader who challenged teams to think creatively and strategically about recruiting. She admired his ability to elevate discussions beyond day-to-day recruiting tasks and focus on broader concepts such as employer branding, candidate engagement, and innovative sourcing approaches. His leadership style encouraged curiosity, creativity, and forward-thinking problem solving.
Shelly Grange
Shelly Grange was another impactful mentor during Kelsey’s time at Old Navy and Gap Inc. Kelsey described Shelly as a highly tactical and organized recruiting leader who pushed her to think critically, ask difficult questions, and confidently voice differing opinions. She credited Shelly with teaching her how recruiting should function as a strategic business partnership rather than simply an operational service center. Shelly’s leadership also helped Kelsey become more confident in navigating difficult conversations and leadership dynamics.
Jill Roe
Kelsey also credited Jill Roe, her VP of HR at Goop, for broadening her perspective beyond recruiting alone. Coming from a stronger HR background, Jill encouraged Kelsey to think more holistically about the employee journey and organizational strategy. Through Jill’s mentorship, Kelsey learned to connect hiring decisions with larger business goals, talent management, and long-term workforce planning. Kelsey shared that Jill’s people-first and strategic mindset continues to influence how she leads today.
Perspectives on AI & the Future of Recruiting
Kelsey described AI as both exciting and transformative for the recruiting industry. While acknowledging that some professionals may initially find AI unsettling, she believes the technology offers enormous opportunities when used thoughtfully.
She emphasized that AI excels at scalability and efficiency, while recruiters excel at nuance, relationship-building, and human connection. According to Kelsey, recruiting will always remain fundamentally people-driven, and AI should be viewed as a tool that enhances recruiters rather than replaces them.
Kelsey shared practical examples of how AI has already improved her team’s workflows. She explained that AI-powered interview note-taking and summarization tools have allowed recruiters to focus more fully on conversations with candidates instead of worrying about documenting every detail manually. This has improved both the quality of candidate interactions and the speed and consistency of recruiter write-ups for hiring managers.
She also encouraged talent leaders to actively experiment with AI tools rather than resist them. Her advice was to identify operational pain points within recruiting teams and explore how AI can support those areas. At the same time, she stressed the importance of maintaining the human side of recruiting — including probing questions, emotional intelligence, and relationship building — which she believes AI cannot fully replicate.
Ultimately, Kelsey sees AI as an opportunity to elevate recruiting teams by enabling greater efficiency, stronger candidate experiences, and more strategic talent partnership across organizations.
