Grace & Grit with Lanier Isom

Guest: Lanier Isom, journalist and author of Grace and Grit: How I Won My Fight at Goodyear and Beyond - the life story of Lilly Ledbetter

Film: Lilly - based on the book, now available on Amazon.

Key Lilly Ledbetter Quotes:

On Pay Negotiation and Career Planning

"Your first job is very important because even though you're not even thinking about retirement, how much you pay is gonna determine, you know, the health of your retirement. So you have to be able to negotiate pay."

Key Messages

About Lilly Ledbetter's Story

•Lilly Ledbetter is an Alabama native from Possum Trot, Alabama, who became the namesake of President Obama's first piece of legislation: The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act

•The film Lilly had its world premiere at the 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival

•Blue Harbor Entertainment released Lilly exclusively in theaters in May 2025

•The story represents an important fight for equal pay and fair treatment in the workplace

About Lanier Isom's Journey as a Writer

•Lanier grew up in Birmingham with parents who loved books, art, and surrounded themselves with creative people

•She graduated from Sophie Newcomb (women's college within Tulane University) in 1987 with an English degree

•After struggling to find work with her degree, she sold children's shoes before getting her master's at UAB in English

•She taught for over 11 years at Altamont School and Mountain Brook High School

•Transitioned through PR work, magazine editing at Birmingham Home and Garden Magazine, and eventually freelance writing

•Key insight: "Every job I've ever had, I had no idea. I was not trained to do it... I knew how to learn. A humanities education taught me how to learn. So I just learned on the job."

How Lanier Met Lilly

•In 2009, when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, Lanier's husband suggested the story

•When Lanier first called Lilly, she was overwhelmed with media attention and said: "I'm up to my knees in alligators" and hung up

•Lanier gathered her courage, called back, and interviewed Lilly for a magazine article

•This became the beginning of their relationship and eventually the book

•Lanier's belief: "As writers, as artists... the universe, I could not have planned that."

On Women's Issues and Generational Context

•Lanier was exposed to women's studies at Tulane, which was very important to her development

•She was raised by a second-wave feminist mother who struggled as a newly divorced woman in the 1970s trying to find work and support her children

•Generational challenge: Women of their generation (born in the 1960s) were not taught about business, negotiating salaries, or thinking about pay and money

•"Money talk was not something very comfortable for me"

•This lack of education about financial negotiation directly connects to Lilly's message about the importance of advocating for fair pay

On the Power of Writing and Art

•Writing as transformation: "Writing is so powerful and the arts are so powerful that that's the first thing people want to shut down when there's fascism on the horizon."

•Writing creates change: "Art and writing can literally shift people's consciousness, their awareness. It can create a sense of humanity, of empathy, of understanding, of connection that is threatening to people who don't want a world like that."

•Political power: "It can shift, it can become a political shift."

•Writing can be empowering whether it's journaling, book writing, articles, or copywriting

On the Creative Process

•Lanier emphasizes the importance of being in flow and alignment while creating

•"The best part is when you are in the flow and you are aligned and you know that something good, not necessarily important, but good and important is coming through."

•The value is in the process: "You had that moment in alignment that is far more important than the outcome."

•"It is very hard not to live in the outcomes. I mean, we're just human."

•Balance needed: As artists, the creative meditation is valuable, but if it's your livelihood, you also need to consider practical outcomes