Levi's Unbuttoned with Jennifer Sey

True Thirty with Joey Dumont

Jennifer Sey is an American author, filmmaker, business executive and retired artistic gymnast. She was the 1986 USA Gymnastics National Champion, and a 7-time member of the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Her first memoir, "Chalked Up," was published in 2008, and detailed the systemic abuse of children in the sport of gymnastics. She also produced the 2020 Emmy award-winning documentary film, "Athlete A.”

Sey began working at Levi Strauss & Co. as a marketing assistant in 1999, rising to Chief Marketing Officer and then Global Brand President. In January 2022, she was asked to resign because of her vocal opposition to the extended closure of San Francisco’s public schools.

Set for release on November 15, Sey’s latest memoir, “Levi’s Unbuttoned,” not only recounts her rise up the corporate ladder and the events that led to her ouster, it also gives an unprecedented, insider’s view of the cruel, exploitative hypocrisy that underpins woke capitalism. She is a mother of four, and now resides in Denver with her family.

During our chat, we talked about why she turned down a million dollar severance package to tell her story – Levi’s progressive corporate orthodoxy – and how the social activists of her own political party proved to be her largest and most intolerable critic.

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