Most HR leaders build their careers in one or two industries. Khai Jones has built hers in five, and the thread connecting all of them isn't a framework or a methodology. It's a belief about what people actually need to grow.

In this episode of Elevate, host Joy Fajardo sits down with Khai Jones, incoming VP of Employee Experience at GoDaddy, to explore what it really means to grow people with intention, and what it costs when you don't.

Khai's career spans nearly 20 years and five very different industries: healthcare, manufacturing, global industrial tech, defence, and now tech. She built HR in places most people leaders never see, including nine years at Cummins, where spending time on the factory floor taught her that the people closest to the product are the ones who drive business success. That belief has followed her across 50+ countries and 18,000+ person organizations. And for 20 years, she's quietly run a foundation for at-risk youth alongside every role she's held.

In this conversation, Khai unpacks what intentional growth actually looks like in practice, both as an individual navigating a career and as a leader sponsoring others. She shares the concept of a personal board of directors, why authenticity on a team is the first thing that dies under pressure, and where she thinks human connection fits in a world increasingly shaped by AI.

You'll also hear how she thinks about evaluating EX technology: not just for what it can do today, but whether it can scale with you. This episode is for people leaders and HR professionals who want to lead with more intention, and who believe that growth only happens when someone truly sees you, invests in you, and means it.