Shift’s Newsmaker Interview is with author, filmmaker, and former Levi Strauss & Co. executive Jennifer Sey, who will be one of the featured speakers at the 2024 Roanoke Conference (January 26 – 28 in Ocean Shores). Her new book. “Levi’s Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job but Gave Me My Voice” details her experience fighting liberal activists over her concerns distance learning was having on student’s education and social development.
In her interview, Sey described her concerns with isolating children during COVID and her fight with activists who attempted to silence her concerns. She detailed her experience within Levi’s where members of the management team (whose children went to private schools which continued in-person learning) told her that she must stop advocating for re-opening public schools. Finally, Sey talked about her upcoming documentary “GENERATION COVID” which focuses on the long-term damage the lockdown will have on our children.
First, please briefly provide your background and the topics you will be speaking on at the Roanoke Conference in January.
I am an author, filmmaker, business executive and retired artistic gymnast. I was the 1986 USA Gymnastics National Champion, and a 7-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Team. My first memoir, “Chalked Up,” was released in 2008 and detailed the coaching cruelty inflicted on children in the sport of gymnastics. I also produced the 2020 Emmy award-winning documentary film, “Athlete A,” which connected the crimes of Larry Nassar to broader abuses in the Olympic movement.I began working at Levi Strauss & Co. in 1999 and rose to Chief Marketing Officer and then Global Brand President. In January 2022, I was asked to resign because of my public opposition to the extended closure of San Francisco’s public schools. My most recent memoir, “Levi’s Unbuttoned,” tells the story of my corporate career, search for authenticity, and refusal to bow to the woke mob.
During the COVID lockdowns you made headlines for your comments on the impact of distance learning on kids. What were your primary concerns and why did you feel you should make these statements?
I was concerned from the outset – March 2020 – about the harms that would be done to children from the onerous restrictions being placed on them: closed schools, closed playgrounds, no sports, no socializing, near total isolation. And then in the Fall of 2020, when private schools opened but public schools remained closed, I was extremely concerned that the most vulnerable children were obviously going to suffer the most harm and were being asked the carry the heaviest burden on behalf of society. Especially when we knew, from the beginning, that children were at little to no risk of serious harm from covid. Of course, as my advocacy continued, I also became concerned about the social and media censorship used to silence and smear anyone who challenged. And in so doing, consensus that never existed was manufactured. I refused to bow to the threats to my job and reputation. The kids and our foundational freedoms are too important. Whatever the cost to me personally.
Your views put you into the crosshairs of the “Woke” mob. What tactics did they use against you? How much did their actions impact your departure from Levi Strauss?
The mob existed both inside and outside the company. I was targeted on social media. I was called everything from a racist to a eugenicist to an alt right conspiracy theorist, for the crime of believing all children should have access to a free and equal education.
My employer was tagged over and over again on Twitter, in a call to have me fired. And of course, my employer noticed.
Internally there were employees who complained about my advocacy as well. They sent emails to HR and the CEO and reported me on the ethics hotline. Again, I was called a racist, and every -ist name you can think of.
In the summer of 2021, I was made to do an “apology tour” for my advocacy, when schools had been closed for over a year in my city of San Francisco (with no sign of opening any time soon.) I didn’t apologize but I was asked to prove that I was “one of us not one of them” and to explain my supposedly racist views (the rationale being if I wanted public schools to open I didn’t care if black children died of covid).
I was told over and over again by my boss (the CEO) and various peers on the executive team that I needed to stop advocating for open public schools, as their own children attended in person private school. I refused. Politely and with data. And eventually I was told there was no longer a place for me at the company.
The whole time this was happening, I was delivering strong performance in my job and, in fact, the stock price reached an all-time high under my leadership as Brand President. But it didn’t matter. My views were unacceptable.
Many people have equated the power of these liberal activists to a modern form of McCarthyism. They have negatively impacted the careers of thousands of individuals. What can be done to reduce the influence the cancel culture has in the media and in our society?
I think we all have to speak up. We can’t let the fear of cancellation keep us quiet. There is a silent majority in this country who don’t believe in the madness of woke-ism that has taken hold, but they remain silent out of fear. But if we all speak up, we can’t be smeared as a fringe minority. But we need to do it together.
The best way to defend free speech is with more speech. That rests with each of us. If not you, then who? You have to. You have to stand up and say what you believe, and push back on the narratives we are fed. Whether its covid, or what your kids are being taught (or not taught) in school, or protecting girls ‘and women’s sports and spaces. Every voice matters and we need yours. They can’t cancel us all.
You recently tweeted, “I will never get tired of saying ‘I told you so’ in regards to lockdowns and school closures.” What recent findings have confirmed your original concerns about distance learning? Have you seen any mea culpa from the activists who so adamantly opposed your previous comments?
I meant that in a sort of joking way but it is also true. I said it over and over again – I said what was going to happen and then it happened. I said the poorest children would be harmed the most. I said there would be catastrophic learning loss, disengagement, depression and anxiety, increased drug and alcohol use and other self-destructive behaviors. And that is exactly what we are seeing happen now, in real time.
I gave up everything to say these true things – my city, my community, my job. That is how important children and free speech are to me.
But no, there have been no apologies or mea culpas. There has been a lot of “I didn’t close the schools” from people like Fauci and Governor Newsom (note: they did). No one wants to own this one. Because of how disastrous it has been. And the fact is, all the data was available to say, this is not only an ineffective policy but a harmful one. But they did it anyway.
No apologies. No mea culpas. Lots of “not me!” and also quite a bit of asking for grace and forgiveness or “amnesty” for those who pushed for lockdowns and school closures. There is no grace and forgiveness without a deeply heartfelt apology to the children harmed and the advocates dragged through the mud.
What has been the reception of your book Levi’s Unbuttoned: The Woke Mob Took My Job but Gave Me My Voice?
I wrote it as an exhortation to speak up. And I’ve heard from so many readers who tell me it has inspired to them to do just that in their own communities, in their own way. Which of course, is heartening and means the world to me.
You have also been working on a documentary titled GENERATION COVID on the impact the lockdown has had on our children. What can you tell us about this film, and when and where will people be able to see it?
GENERATION-COVID reveals the stark realities of post-covid America with a focus on the long-term harms done to children due to ineffective and prolonged school closures, lockdowns and other restrictions that were needlessly imposed on their lives.
We’ve completed filming and we are editing the film now. We released a teaser for the film recently and you can view it here.
We continue to fundraise to fund postproduction and will release the film in 2024. We don’t yet have distribution but are starting that process now.
For more information on Jennifer Sey, please visit her website SeyEverything.com
For more information on the 2024 Roanoke Conference, please visit its website at RoanokeConference.org
