Get to know more about new leaders at LS&Co. through these Quick Qs. Meet Jenny Calvert-Rodriguez, the new Executive Director of the Red Tab Foundation which provides critical aid to Levi Strauss & Co. current and retired employees who are suffering through unexpected emergencies.
1. What are the biggest challenges you and your team face?
Right now, how to handle the unprecedented needs that employees have in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Red Tab Foundation’s core work is to provide a safety net for LS&Co. employees and retirees, and that safety net has never been more critical than it is now. Our team is busy, to say the least. More generally, though, with nearly 20,000 employees the world over, our biggest challenge is to understand and be sensitive to the diverse needs and realities of a dispersed global workforce. It’s important to us to build strong partnerships with our colleagues across 30+ countries where LS&Co. operates to understand what the needs are in these places, and how to build responsive programs.
2. What does success look like in your job?
That’s simple. I’ll know my job is done when every employee and retiree of LS&Co. knows exactly what the Red Tab Foundation is and can access the empathetic ear, financial assistance and resources they need, when they need it.
3. What was your first job?
I scooped ice cream at Coldstone Creamery. We had a rule in the store that if people tipped $5, we would sing a song or do a backflip or toe touch. I was a musical theater nerd in high school and a cheerleader, so this was fun for me.
4. Do you have a favorite personal story about LS&Co. or one of our products?
Eleven-year-old Jenny thought my sister-in-law was the coolest person — she was a designer for Dockers® in the ‘90s and was so fashionable, living the city life when I was a teen in a Northern California suburb. She brought me to the Union Square (San Francisco) flagship store once on a special trip, and bought me this amazing, dark denim Levi’s® trucker jacket with flared sleeves. That jacket meant so much to me, and it was a staple piece of my wardrobe throughout my awkward middle-school years — so much so that as a gift later that year, my family made a custom Barbie that looked like me for Christmas, and that Barbie wore none other than that trucker jacket. It was amazing.
5. What is your go-to LS&Co. product today?
It’s gotta be the Wedgie Straight jean. I wear mine all of the time.
6. List five things that make you happy.
– Crossword puzzles
– Spontaneous dance parties with my toddler, Emily
– An afternoon gardening
– Vinho verde
– Traveling to places I’ve never been before
