Hearing the Story of (Co)Created Out Loud

What it was like stepping into the studio to narrate the story behind Pacsun’s transformation.

This week I spent several days in a recording studio narrating the audiobook for Co-Created.

I’ve spent most of my career speaking in rooms filled with people — teams, students, investors, partners. But sitting alone in a studio, reading every word of the story out loud, felt very different.

Because when you hear the story back in your own voice, you realize something quickly:

No transformation is ever written by one person.

The Experience of Recording the Audiobook

Recording the audiobook forced me to slow down in a way writing never did.

When you write a book, you move forward chapter by chapter. You revise, edit, reshape. But when you narrate it, you sit with every moment again.

Every decision.

Every challenge.

Every turning point.

Some chapters brought me back to moments that felt uncertain when we were living them — moments when Pacsun was asking bigger questions about who we were and who we wanted to become.

Transformation is rarely a straight line. It’s a long series of conversations, experiments, risks, and recalibrations.

And what became even clearer to me while recording the audiobook is that the story in Co-Created is not really about a single company.

It’s about a different model of leadership.

A Different Way to Build a Brand

For most of my career in retail, the traditional belief was simple: brands define culture.

But over the last decade, something profound shifted.

Culture started moving faster than brands.

Young people, especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha, became creators, curators, and collaborators in the brands they care about.

And the companies that are thriving today aren’t the ones trying to control culture.

They’re the ones learning how to co-create it.

That idea became the foundation for Pacsun’s transformation, but it also became the foundation for this book.

The Voices Behind the Story

As I read the book out loud this week, I kept thinking about the many voices behind the pages.

Our Pacsun teams who pushed the brand forward.

The creators and partners who helped shape our perspective.

The young people whose ideas constantly challenge how we think about culture.

The story inside Co-Created is the product of thousands of conversations, debates, risks, and experiments.

And narrating the audiobook reminded me how many people shaped those chapters along the way.

Leadership may put your name on the cover.

But the real story is always written together.

Why This Story Felt Important to Share

Writing Co-Created pushed me outside my comfort zone.

I’ve spent nearly two decades helping lead Pacsun through reinvention, but stepping back to reflect on the journey — and the lessons behind it — was something entirely different.

It made me realize how much leadership has changed.

The future will belong to leaders who listen more than they speak.

Who collaborate more than they control.

And who understand that the most powerful ideas are often created together.

Co-Created releases May 12.

Recording the audiobook this week reminded me of something simple:

The story may be told in one voice. But it was never created by just one.

Thank you for being a part of Pacsun’s journey.

Brieane