Americans, especially the ones on the right, are aware of wokeness creeping into corporate America. Sometimes this comes in the form of harmless but questionable virtue signaling. Other times it could be as chilling as losing your whole career because you dared share the wrong opinion. That is exactly what happened to Jennifer Sey, former brand president of Levi’s.
Sey first joined Levi’s in 1999 to take the post of assistant marketing manager. Working in the company over many years, she rose through the ranks to become marketing director for the US and then chief marketing officer. Her latest and biggest promotion came in 2020 when she became the first woman to be Levi’s global brand president.
She had spent two decades at Levi’s. During this time her life saw many drastic changes. She got married, had two kids and then divorced. She also had another two kids and got married again. One thing that remained unchanged during all this time was her job. However, that too was about to change when she started advocating for certain political issues.
It all started when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the shores of the US and schools had to close down. Sey voiced her displeasure over the extended school closure in California, where she lived and worked, like many other parents. She was of the opinion that school closures were unnecessary and unscientific, and used data to back up her stance. She was very active in this pursuit, as she wrote many op-eds, appeared on local news shows, and even attended meetings with the mayor.
For having a reasonable concern any parent would have, she was called racist – notwithstanding the fact she has two black sons– QAnon conspiracy theorist, and a eugenicist. Her woke critics accused her of wanting black and brown kids to die because she wanted schools to reopen.
The criticisms became too hot that she received a call from her company’s head of corporate communications in the summer of 2020, asking her to slow down. The warning befuddled Sey because many of her colleagues regularly share political opinions, such as how Trump should be removed at all costs in the upcoming November election.
When it became clear that schools were not reopening in October 2020, she asked her company to publically weigh in on the matter. However, they refused. “There’s also a lot of potential negatives if we speak up strongly, starting with the numerous execs who have kids in private schools in the city,” was the reply she received.
Running out of options, Sey finally moved out of California – a place she lived in for 30 years – so that her kids could go to school. At this time, her story was picked up by national news media and she soon appeared on Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News.
Her appearance on Fox News led to a firestorm at her company. She was asked by the company’s Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to do an ‘apology tour.’ She refused. But there was no stopping the woke mob. The engine of cancel culture was running in full gear to get her removed. The company’s ethics line was inundated with calls and messages about how Sey is racist, anti-science, anti-fat, and anti-trans. The head of corporate communications sent a collection of Sey’s tweets and online interactions to the CEO.
All that culminated in the CEO offering a severance package of $1 million, with the condition that Sey keep her mouth shut. She refused – and lost her job.
