Meet Citizen Vinyl's Chief Manufacturing Officer Lauren Rash

Lauren Rash joined the Citizen Vinyl team in October and brings with her a wealth of manufacturing experience. "I was a lean black belt and strategic growth manager for GE Aerospace, then COO of Diamond Brand Gear, and then Senior Manager of Fabrication at Thermo Fisher Scientific," she says.

These days, Lauren works as fractional Chief Manufacturing Officer for Citizen Vinyl — helping in all aspects of manufacturing, monitoring team culture, ensuring safety of all employees, and ensuring stringent quality measurements are in place for clients. She also runs her own consultancy firm.

Citizen Vinyl: Are you native to Asheville? If not, where are you from and what brought you here?

Lauren Rash: I am a native North Carolinian coming from the Charlotte area originally, but I've been in Western N.C. for more than 20 years now. My husband and I came to WNC for my husband's career in trout fisheries and habitat conservation.
 

As one of few women in vinyl manufacturing, how would you encourage other women to find roles in this industry?

Like anything, you need to find work that brings you purpose and joy. Manufacturing has done this for me; every day brings unique challenges to solve and it is never boring. It promotes teamwork like no other work, and with that comes a true cultural understanding of unique perspectives and communities of people. You have to find the positives and focus on that, model that as a leader and continue to strive for perfection daily, knowing you'll never quite reach "perfection" as the bar keeps rising.

What attracted you to CV?

I am avid listener of music, and wanted to see that this capturing of tangible music stays alive in WNC for our artistic communities. I love that Citizen Vinyl brings a sense of joy to people around the world when they listen to their favorite artist via our pressings. I am also an avid supporter of manufacturing in WNC and seeing businesses succeed brings me a sense of purpose. 

What records are you currently listening to?

Hayes Carll, Iris Dement, the Mavericks and Reverend Horton Heat are a few in rotation right now.