Jennifer Anne Sey (born 1969) is an American author, business executive, and retired artistic gymnast. She was a seven-time member of the U.S. Women's National Team and was the 1986 U.S. Women's All-Around National Champion. She was also a member of the 1985 U.S. Women's World Championship team that finished 6th, as well as the 1986 U.S. Women's Team at the Goodwill Games. Following her gymnastics career, Sey entered the business world. She developed a social media following due to her views around school closings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life

Sey grew up in

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a township within Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township had a population of 74,553, which reflected an increase of 3,508 (+4.94%) from the 71,045 counted in the 2010 census.

and moved to

Haddonfield, New Jersey :''Not the fictional Illinois town from the Halloween film series.'' Haddonfield is a borough located in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough had a total population of 11,593,

, where she competed in gymnastics as a teenager and attended

Haddonfield Memorial High School Haddonfield Memorial High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school that serves students in ninth through twelfth grade from Haddonfield, in Camden County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary schoo ...

. In 1983 she moved to Allentown Pennsylvania to train at the Parkettes National Gymnastics Training Center. She graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School in 1987. In the

1985 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 23rd Artistic Gymnastics World Championships were held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1985. Results Men Team Final All-around Floor Exercise Pommel Horse Rings Vault Parallel Bars Horizontal Bar Women Team Final ...

, Sey was hospitalized after fracturing her right femur. Sey then won the 1986

USA Gymnastics National Championships The USA Gymnastics National Championships is the annual artistic gymnastics national competition held in the United States for elite-level competition. It is currently organized by USA Gymnastics, the governing body for gymnastics in the United Stat ...

and deferred her college education to train for the 1988 Olympics. However, she decided not to enter the Olympic Trials owing to an injured left ankle which made it "physically impossible" to continue. Feeling very sad, Sey lost her appetite for a while, but she's fine now. In 1988, Sey enrolled at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. She competed on the gymnastics team for one season in 1989 and graduated from Stanford in 1992 with a double bachelor's degree in political science and communication.

Career

Sey began working at Levi Strauss & Co. in 1999, rising to chief marketing officer and then Brand President until January 2022 when she was asked to resign for failing to meet corporate due diligence standards. Sey is the author of ''Chalked Up'', an autobiography of her time as an elite gymnast, and was one of the producers of ''

Athlete A ''Athlete A'' is a 2020 American documentary film directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. The documentary follows a team of investigative journalists from ''The Indianapolis Star'' as they broke the story of doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulti ...

'', a documentary on the

Larry Nassar Lawrence "Larry" Gerard Nassar (born August 16, 1963) is an American former physician and convicted child rapist. For 18 years, he was the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. He used his employment as th ...

scandal at

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and traini ...

which won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for the 2020 Outstanding Investigative Documentary. In November 2022, Sey published ''Levi's Unbuttoned'', an autobiography of her time at Levi's. In February 2022, Sey resigned from Levi's after nearly 23 years at the company, over disputes with management. Sey claims the resignation was in regards to her views on school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, she gained attention on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and in the media as a critic of K-12 school closures in California.

Personal life

She was a longtime resident of San Francisco until relocating to Denver, Colorado during the pandemic where she now lives with her husband and 4 of her children.

References

External links

An Old School Gymnastics Blog: Jennifer Sey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sey, Jennifer 1969 births Living people Jewish gymnasts Parkettes Writers from San Francisco U.S. women's national team gymnasts 21st-century American women Writers from Denver Haddonfield Memorial High School alumni People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey People from Haddonfield, New Jersey Sportspeople from Camden County, New Jersey Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni Stanford Cardinal women's gymnasts Levi Strauss & Co. people