Levi's Unbuttoned
Not the book I thought I'd write.
I used to think that maybe I’d spend my entire career at Levi’s - retire as Brand President or possibly even CEO - then write a book about rising up the corporate ladder for over thirty years, as a woman in corporate America. It would recount how I’d never really been so sure about a lifelong career as a corporate executive, but kept going because, well, I needed to work and make a living and, as it turned out, I was pretty good at it.
And I’d also tell the story of how it wasn’t until I became the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) that I considered: “Maybe I could go all the way with this thing?” And how when I was named one of Forbes Most Influential CMOs in 2019 and then again, in 2020, I thought: “Yeah, let’s do this.”
Central to the story would be the idea that you can be true to yourself and be an employee of a large company, if you just find the right one, as I had. You could even pursue other projects and causes while you worked your way up, as I had, when I wrote a book called Chalked Up in 2008, and again, when I produced a documentary film called Athlete A in 2020, all while working at Levi’s. Hey, you could even have kids, as I did in 2000, 2003, 2014 and 2016, and be an involved parent. You could have it all, maybe not all at the same time, but balance would come over time, even if not in every moment of every day.
I’d call it Forever In Blue Jeans (yes, like the Neil Diamond song) and it would be a triumph-over-not-so-much-adversity / “lean in” story of you can do it! inspiration.
But life had other plans for me, and that’s not the book I wrote.
Yesterday, the book I did actually write went on presale, and you can learn more about it here. The cover looks like this:
Some kind folks have given encouraging support.
Like Megyn Kelly:
And Michael Shellenberger:
And Dr. Phil:
And Jeffrey Tucker:
The book will hit the proverbial shelves on November 15th. I hope you’ll check it out.
"you can be true to yourself and be an employee of a large company, if you just find the right one, as I had." therein lies the rub- are there any "right" companies now? or have they just all become mouthpieces for the latest thing, expecting lockstep obeisance from their employees?
in 1980 i came to charleston, SC to work on the wardrobe crew of the Spoleto Arts Festival, mainly because i wanted to collect unemployment and my current boss wouldn't lay me off even though he didn't have enough work for me.
i fell in love with the city and the event, restructured my life so that i could keep doing it, opened a costume company of my own in NYC, bought old houses in the town (when they were cheap) and pretty much dedicated my life to being the costume director, a position i assumed in 1982, of this wonderful organization.
suddenly in 2022, they went all woke and pushed for DEI unless you weren't vaccinated, of course. then it didn't matter how black, female, trans or otherwise oppressed you were. like the arts under totalitarian regimes, they willingly became an enforcement arm of official government public health policy, insisting on boosters, photo ID's (something only hardcore racists demand of voters, right?) and masks, in so doing wiping out a great swath of potential ticket buyers of all races, colors and creeds and making themselves the exclusive purview of the frightened and indoctrinated.
after 40 years of dedicated, brilliant work, i became a non-person. no one called me; no one offered any regrets or thanks for 4 decades of tireless work. had i retired after 40 years, i might have expected a few words in the program, a parting gift and a party. since my sin was non-compliance, i got nothing.
in april, the governor signed into law a bill making medical jim crow illegal in the state and suddenly, the arts festival was forced to sell tickets even to the "unclean," thus betraying the terrified who only bought tickets under the assumption that they would be shielded from anyone who might be harboring an errant germ. so not only did the masses they had ostracized not forgive them, but some of their previous smug and self satisfied ticket buyers asked for refunds, the prospect of sitting next to a typhoid mary being too much for them.
in addition, they had made a massive Black Lives Matter sign on their scene shop so that all the traffic on I-26 could maybe mistake the building for the headquarters of a political movement instead of the warehouse of an arts festival. after a time, one of the Ls fell off and i found it so irritating that i called them. i mean, if you feel it necessary to jump on a bandwagon, at least keep it maintained. recently, the V has started to pivot off the building. since i am no longer good enough to work for them and they no longer have any legitimacy or reason to exist, i'm not bothering to notify them. let their policies bring on their demise; it can't happen soon enough for me.
i'll add your book to my reading list. there is life after woke. thanks for finding a path to it.
Proud and inspired by you for always speaking your truth. Can not wait to read your book.