80% Of People Who Work At Playboy Are Feminists

September 30, 2009

By Judy Grundstrom

christy-hefner

Today’s New York Times has a profile piece on former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner in the Fashion and Style Section. I always love seeing stories about Christie Hefner as she is one of my favorite CEO’s and also because the company she was at the helm of, Playboy, is so interesting for a woman to be CEO of. Ms. Hefner has been famous over the years for her balancing act of being known as a liberal feminist and for running Playboy.

Victor S. Navasky, chairman of the Columbia Journalism Review says this about Hefner:

‘ “She’s certainly a liberal feminist and a liberal Democrat,” said Mr. Navasky, former editor of the liberal Nation. “People would say, ‘so what’s she doing putting out a magazine and running clubs catering to horny men?’ But she found a way to make it work consistent with her values, to serve Playboy and her father and give them an opportunity to do socially useful things.” ‘

Ms. Hefner has always talked about feminist politics at Playboy and has been famously quoted for saying, “80% of the people who work at Playboy are feminists.”

Locally in the Twin Cities, I have a woman business owner friend who once looked to Christie Hefner for help. Sheila Ronning owns Sharp Upswing and also host an event in Minneapolis every year called Women On Boards. When Sheila was ready to take the event national the first city outside of Minneapolis she started with was Chicago. In order to have the event be successful and get sponsors lined up a big name was needed. Sheila asked Christie Hefner, who at that time was CEO of Playboy, to participate. Ms. Hefner agreed and the event was a huge success. The Women On Boards event is now held in over 10 different cities nation wide.

Christie Hefner had a 20 year run as CEO of Playboy and now works in a number of different areas as she says she needs to keep working.

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