Wilmington author, Khalilah Olokunola debuts her new book

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Khalilah Olokunola was the Chief People Officer at Tru Colors. It was a Wilmington brewery that employed active gang members to reduce violence in the community. 

After the brewery closed in 2022, Olokunola started ReEngineering HR to help companies connect with individuals through programs and specialty training. 

Her new book “Do Recruit: How to Find and Keep Great People,” takes a look at company culture. She said a focus of the book is creating innovative hiring and retention strategies. 

“We really had some great people respond positively to it. It’s untraditional. It’s rule breaking. It’s destructive. I don’t think that HR needs to be revamped or reinvented but it does need to be reengineered,” Olokunola said. 

Olokunola said the book recommends employers rethink their “go to” hiring platforms, discover the real person during an interview, invest time and resource in onboarding, and let people go with kindness.