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Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Gladys H. DeClouet’s memoir, A Layered Life, follows her story from the projects of Jacksonville, Florida, to her roles as an engineer at Conoco. At Jack in the Box, Gladys oversaw more than 900 company-operated restaurants and $1.8 billion in sales. She accepted a position on the Global Executive Team of Burger King in Miami, Florida, where she became one of the first Black women to hold top operations roles. She was raised by her grandparents after the death of her father. Her mother was sent to prison for manslaughter. But her challenging environment didn’t stop DeClouet from fighting for a successful future: she earned an engineering degree from Tuskegee and an MBA from Wisconsin. She entered the oil industry in 1979, long before diversity became a topic of conversation in the corporate world. She refused to accept her grandmother's words that a girl like her could only “stay Black and die”; instead, it became the fire that drove her.
A Layered Life moves between Gladys H. DeClouet’s professional trajectory and a private life characterized by family deaths, childhood abuse, chronic pain, and divorce. The writing is plain, and the conversational tone, paired with the author’s honesty, makes the book utterly engaging. I appreciated how DeClouet talks about her Christian faith, how she plays dumb around predators, and why choosing family over the track to becoming CEO matters. This book is filled with many insightful lessons, such as the idea that “life comes in layers, and belief is complicated. It is never all good or all bad.” Her lessons are practical: learn the unwritten rules, fix pay inequalities when you find them, and treat everyone with dignity. Some scenes are honestly disturbing, but the book is a grounded, useful memoir that values candor over polish.
