If there was ever an apt description of the phrase “American Dream”, it would be Barbara Feigin’s life story. And in her new memoir, fittingly titled ‘My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom’, readers are immersed into a journey that takes you through Barbara’s escape from arguably one of the darkest moments in world history, to a life where she reached the pinnacle of the advertising industry as an executive on groundbreaking campaigns at a time when the idea of a female VP leading the boardroom was almost laughable (think ‘Mad Men’ era).
As a young girl, Barbara and her family fled Nazi Germany as refugees via Japan and the Pacific, to settle in the United States where she grew up in the small town of Chehalis, WA. She eventually married, had a family, and enjoyed immense success as the Executive VP at Grey Advertising (now Grey Global). Although she was often the only woman in the boardroom at a time when they were scarce, she became renowned in the industry for her success spearheading legendary ad campaigns such for Covergirl (“Easy, Breezy, CoverGirl!”), and the infamous anti-drunk driving initiative with the tag line “Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk”.
Alongside her steady career climb, Barbara also raised three sons (one of whom is today the President of the Milwaukee Bucks Basketball Team – Peter Feigin), helped to institute the importance of maternity leave at her job, and at one point took the reigns caring for her husband after he suffered two strokes while still maintaining her high-powered executive career.
Her story is certainly inspiring, and there are many lessons we can learn from it individually and as a country. America is still the only industrialized nation not to have a federal paid leave policy in place, we currently only have the Family Medical Leave Act, instituted in 1993, allows for 12 weeks of unpaid leave to employees who have been at a company of 50 employees or more, and can be used to care for a spouse, child, or parent with a serious health condition, and/or for reasons related to an employee’s own serious health condition.
We also still see the wage gap persisting in many industries, where women of color and mothers face the worst of the disparities. Which makes Barbara’s achievements in a cutthroat, male-dominated industry all the more impressive.
We had the opportunity to get to know more about the trailblazer’s career, how she navigated difficult times throughout her life, and why she wanted to share her story with the world today.
When did you begin writing “My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism to Freedom,” and what was your goal for sharing your story?
My impetus for writing my memoir came a few years ago, when I was in my mid-seventies, and learned of a journal my Jewish father had kept in the prelude to and during the terrifying, death-defying escape he, my Lutheran mother, and I at age two-and-a-half made from Nazi Germany in July of 1940, at the onset of World War II. I’d known, of course, we’d escaped from Nazi Germany, but I knew nothing of the details until I read my father’s journal.
My parents never spoke of them, and I remembered nothing. As my father wrote, we traveled with a group of 82 refugees on a harrowing seventeen-day train trip from Berlin through Lithuania, Russia including Siberia, China, Korea, and Japan, and from there on a fourteen-day trip across the Pacific Ocean on a Japanese ship, the Hikawa Maru to Seattle. We ultimately settled in Chehalis, a tiny town in southwest Washington State.
Reading my father’s journal was an emotionally overwhelming, life-affirming experience for me. I learned all the horrifying details of my parents’ frantic efforts to escape and of the escape itself. But beyond that, I learned so much about my parents—aspects of their character I’d never even thought about as I was growing up: their courage and bravery, their determination and perseverance, their optimistic spirit and resilience, and their profound elation at being in the land of the free.
They believed fervently that in America, the land of the free, with education, hard work and persistence, big dreams can come true. It was shocking to me that I’d known none of this until I learned of my father’s journal, many decades after my parents died.
I wanted my sons, their children, and future generations never to be as ignorant of what had come before them as I had been of what came before me, since what comes before us is vitally important in making us who we are. It was for that reason I decided to write my story. My hope is that those beyond my family who read my story are educated by it and find inspiration from it. If I can inspire even one person, I’ll feel I made a difference.
You are a trailblazing advertising executive who is renowned for leading legendary ad campaigns. What was it like to climb the corporate ladder at a time when women in the C-suite were not as numerous as they are today?
While at times it was lonely, I was fortunate to work at Grey Advertising for the majority of my career. Grey was a meritocracy, so I was encouraged, supported, and rewarded for helping our clients build their brands and build their business and helping Grey build its portfolio of clients. I was very focused on my goals, both small and large, and while there were definitely some bumps in the road, I worked hard to find my way around them. My focus was on finding solutions rather than belaboring problems.
I was always guided by the principle my mother had impressed upon me from the time I was very young: to dream big, work hard, and never quit. And I recognized that to achieve my dream(s), I would always need to bring something of value to the table. For me that was my being recognized as an authority on the American consumer.
Raising 3 kids while also maintaining a successful career is no easy feat! We are starting to see some great conversations about the need for more support for women in the workforce (paid leave, affordable childcare, flex time, etc.) What enabled you to stay on track during the early years of your kids’ lives?
For me, the secrets to balancing a sometimes tumultuous family life with a demanding career were threefold: a strong partnership with my husband, Jim; clear alignment on our life priorities—our children and achieving success in our careers, understanding that this involved a tradeoff of other activities; and communication as we went along.
We were fortunate too, to have excellent help with childcare during the work week. While we certainly had stressful moments, we, together, strove for balance and did a pretty good job of achieving it, most of the time.
Can you share more about your experience being the caretaker for your husband after he had two strokes, and how you managed to navigate that time alongside your career?
My husband, Jim, suffered the first of a series of very serious strokes at the prime of his life, when he was only fifty-four years old. This was a shattering experience, not only for him, but for all of us in our family. Jim’s doctor said to me as we were leaving his office when he was diagnosed, “Mrs. Feigin, your life will never be the same.” Truer words were never spoken.
Life for all of us in our family became “the time before” and “the time after” Jim’s stroke. Jim and I had always been very strong partners throughout our marriage, discussing our key decisions, sharing our responsibilities as parents, and managing our household and finances. After Jim’s stroke, I took over primary responsibility for everything—most importantly looking after Jim’s health and well-being, but also managing our household, our financial situation including being the sole breadwinner, and everything having to do with our family.
Fortunately, we had aides who helped us, and I was able to continue building my career. I was grateful to be able to do so, as at work I was dealing with problems I could solve, while at home our situation was not solvable but required a huge and stressful adjustment. As one of my colleagues used to say, “Champions adjust,” and over the course of time I was able to do so.
Although the corporate world has come a long way in terms of seeing more women in leadership, we still have a long way to go. In your experience and opinion, how can we continue to see more progress? What needs to change in order to reach toward equality?
The drive for progress for equality for women in leadership needs to come, with urgency, from the top. Corporate leadership and boards of directors need to understand and leverage the positive difference women can make to the bottom line of their companies and push hard to move qualified women into positions of leadership. With so many more women today in CEO positions and on corporate boards, this push can and must become even stronger and more vocal.
As a young child you and your family escaped Nazi Germany as refugees and created a successful and beautiful life in the United States. How have you drawn from this experience throughout your life, and why was it important for you to share this in your book?
Through observation and osmosis, I learned from my parents some of the values and character traits that enabled them to overcome unspeakable challenges as they, my Jewish father and my Lutheran mother (and I) escaped from Nazi Germany with nothing—the clothes on their backs, what they could carry, and $10.50 for our entire family, and to settle in Chehalis, a tiny town in southwest Washington State, and build a new life. They had no idea how they would do this, but with courage, determination, and resilience, over time, they did.
A few examples of how these traits informed my own experiences include:
- Courage: When I graduated from the Harvard-Radcliffe Program in Business Administration, I knew I wanted to go into marketing, and I knew that the center of marketing was in New York City. I summoned up my courage, and, like my parents had done before me, came to New York with nothing: no money, no job, no friends, no place to live, but with the sense that some way, I would make it work. And I did! While I was unable to get a job in product or brand management, marketing-career stepping-stone jobs that were open only to men, I went through the back door and got a job in market research.
- Optimism and Resilience: A year after I’d been in my first job, as a market research trainee, I decided the time had come for me to discuss career-path development and compensation with my boss. When I told him what I wanted to talk about, he threw back his head and roared with laughter. I asked him why he was laughing, and he said, “Career path. . .there is no career path. Women—they get married, have babies, and leave. If you’re looking for a career path, I can’t help you, Barbara. You’ll have to leave.” And so I did, and I found my way into the advertising business, which I loved from the moment I got there.
- Determination and Perseverance: In my earliest days as a senior advertising executive and then as a director of a NYSE company, my male colleagues were not sure what to do with me. They tended to view me as the “token” woman. I learned to raise my voice until I was heard and my colleagues recognized I had something of value to bring to the table. At that point, I became integrated into the team.
These traits, undergirded by the guiding principle for living my mother impressed upon me: dream big, work hard, and never quit, are fundamental life lessons I hope are inspirational to the readers of my memoir.
There are so many differing perspectives on what the “American Dream” means. What does it mean to you, personally?
To me, the American Dream is freedom: freedom to be who you want to be, do what you want to do, go where you want to go, strive for what you want to achieve and to say what you want and read what you want. In this regard, I was very much influenced by my parents. Personally, my American Dream has been to have a strong, close-knit family, to find success in a pioneering career in a business I love, and to make a difference in the world.
What do you hope your readers will take away after reading your story?
My hope is that those who read my memoir come away with an appreciation of the profound importance of freedom and our need to do everything we can to protect it and an understanding of the power of education to open doors to opportunity. And I hope they are inspired to dream big, work hard, and never quit. No matter what one’s stage of life might be, it’s vital to remember that big dreams truly can become reality. If I’m able to inspire even one person, I’ll feel I’ve made a difference.
You can get a copy of ‘My American Dream: A Journey from Fascism To Freedom‘ HERE, and learn more about Barbara’s story on her website, or by following her on Facebook and Instagram.
