The former brand executive of Levi’s said she quit the company and eschewed a million-dollar severance package to speak out, unfettered, against the harm of pandemic policies on children.
Jennifer Sey, a former U.S. gymnast who was on track to become the next CEO of the iconic denim brand, said she left the company within the last 24 hours because it was clear her advocacy was not welcome there, she wrote in former New York Times journalist Bari Weiss’s Substack.
“Until recently, I have always felt encouraged to bring my full self to work — including my political advocacy,” Sey wrote in the newsletter on Monday. “That advocacy has always focused on kids.”
Sey started in marketing at Levi’s in 1999, and by 2020, she had become global brand president. During that time, the then-San Francisco-based mother of four said the company was supportive of her frequent advocacy for children. She wrote a memoir about the toxic culture of elite gymnastics she experienced and joined the company in advocating for social causes such as gay marriage.
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In 2020, Sey began raising concerns about the harm of keeping children away from in-person learning and later about the harm of aggressive masking policies for young children. Sey’s frustration with local COVID-19 rules led her to move her family from California to Denver “so that my kindergartner could finally experience real school.”
She said Levi’s was increasingly hostile to her stance as the pandemic continued.
“The calls kept coming. From legal. From HR. From a board member. And finally, from my boss, the CEO of the company,” Sey wrote. “I explained why I felt so strongly about the issue, citing data on the safety of schools and the harms caused by virtual learning. While they didn’t try to muzzle me outright, I was told repeatedly to ‘think about what I was saying.'”
Sey said she was told that in order to advance, she would have to stop her advocacy for unmasking children in schools, and then last month, she was told that her presence at the company had become “untenable.” She was offered a $1 million severance package that came with a nondisclosure agreement, Sey wrote.
“The money would be very nice. But I just can’t do it. Sorry, Levi’s,” she wrote.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Levi’s said: “Today, Levi Strauss & Co. announced management changes affecting our executive leadership team. Seth Ellison, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer will assume responsibility as the Levi’s® brand president on an interim basis in addition to his commercial duties, replacing Jen Sey, who resigned from the company. LS&Co. has initiated a search for a new Levi’s® brand president, an opportunity to lead one of the world’s best known and most respected consumer brands.”
Sey said she feels Levi’s has lost the values of “American ruggedness, freedom, [and] individualism” upon which it was founded.
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“The corporation doesn’t believe in that now,” she said. “It’s trapped trying to please the mob — and silencing any dissent within the organization. In this it is like so many other American companies: held hostage by intolerant ideologues who do not believe in genuine inclusion or diversity.”
