Burn

Acknowledgments

After I stepped down as CEO of Chesapeake Bay Company in November 2018, people began asking me how I built my business. How did I think of it? How did I operate it across several continents? How did I navigate ever‐changing consumer trends? My then‐publicist Sherri Cunningham and my literary agents Robin Sproul, Dylan Colligan, and Keith Urbahn somehow convinced me that my journey as a businesswoman and immigrant could shed light on questions of entrepreneurship, innovation, manufacturing, and American national competitiveness. They helped me convert and shape my journey into book form.

And then there was writing the book. As we sheltered in place during the COVID‐19 pandemic, I leaned into the research and writing with my collaborator and writing partner, Rachel Gostenhofer. When we first embarked on this project, the two of us planned to traverse Asia, journeying to my hometown and visiting my factories in China and Vietnam. The pandemic placed an extra burden on our research and imagination. With our different aesthetics and points of view, we tried on different voices and experimented with different stories, ensuring that we achieved cultural, historical, and emotional truth. I also want to thank my fellow writing collaborator, Seth Shulman. His critical feedback and strategic insight were as indispensable as his clarity and precision.

As I labored away on the writing, my expert and wonderful editorial team at Wiley—Jeanenne Ray, Dawn Kilgore, Gary Schwartz, ...