How Two “Very Public” Firings Paved the Way for a Career Coup

Communications consultant Jennifer Dixon speaks with her former Harper’s Bazaar colleague Laura Brown on igniting the All the Cool Girls Get Fired movement, the importance of underthinking it and a heartfelt DM from a woman named Boo.

During a work trip to South Africa, journalist Laura Brown heard her phone buzz in the middle of the night. “I’m getting the boot,” her friend and former colleague Kristina O’Neill, at the time Wall Street Journal Magazine’s editor in chief, texted.

“I was the fired friend,” Brown says, recalling her own 2022 dismissal as editor in chief of InStyle. “We were both what I like to call ‘press release fired,’ and Kristina knew I was 14 months ahead of her, and I was still alive.”

Shortly after Brown’s return to New York, the editors—who worked together at Harper’s Bazaar for nearly a decade—caught up over drinks. Brown posted a selfie with the caption “All the Cool Girls Get Fired.” The update went viral, with former presidential intern Monica Lewinsky joking: “I got fired. And transferred to the Pentagon, where I became friends with Linda Tripp.”

“It was a punk thing for us to do, because women never acknowledge getting fired,” Brown says. “And the response made us realize that we’d really struck a chord.” The following day, O’Neill drummed up the idea for the 2025 bestselling book—equal parts memoir, unemployment manifesto and self-help handbook. The duo tapped their extensive network for contributors—Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Lee Curtis and Katie Couric share painful and personal stories, as do everyday women from all walks of life.

And readers did more than respond, they rallied. “The book tapped into a community that had never really been acknowledged,” Brown says. “We met women who said All the Cool Girls gave them the courage to ask for overtime, to refinance their house and to break up with a bad boyfriend.”

Through her work, Brown seeks to challenge the internal narrative of many fired women. Instead of obsessing over every minute detail and blaming themselves, women would benefit from “underthinking” their firings and focusing on their next moves.

A slew of headline-making mass layoffs since the book’s publication (Microsoft, Meta, Starbucks) made Brown and O’Neill realize their story deserved another chapter. In

June, they launched the All the Cool Girls Get Fired podcast—which, for the first time, includes interviews with cool guys.

Australian-born Brown appreciates that both of her work “babies” involve helping others. She also chairs the (RED) Creative Council, fighting to end HIV and AIDS. “We’re within striking distance,” she says. “And my role is to make people pay attention.”

Brown attributes always landing on her feet to her ability to consistently show up from a place of authenticity. “After InStyle, I got an email from an older woman in Mississippi named Boo,” she says. “And she said, ‘thank you for making me always feel included in your magazine.’ I’m approachable. I’ve earned the trust of all different spheres of people—what a privilege that is.”

Stay tuned for our next installment of the Comms Corner, featuring Laura Brown’s nominee Kerry Diamond, founder and editorial director of Cherry Bombe.