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In the 2023 movie about ‘Tetris’, the Russian inventor of the world’s first truly universally loved video game explains to Taron Edgerton’s naive American protagonist that what young Soviets really wanted in 1988 is freedom. Specifically, “freedom of speech, freedom of art and of freedom of expression… And freedom to wear Levi’s® jeans.”

While Moscow in the late eighties may seem a strange place to start a story about Levi’s® new Chief Marketing Officer, Kenny Mitchell, it does tell us something crucial about the global climate of his formative years. While he and his older brother were taping tracks from rap radio and practicing their head spins, their contemporaries in the East were longing for the sound of 808s and the dreaming of feeling American denim against their skin. For large parts of the world, the brand Mitchell now drives is, and always has been, the embodiment of the American dream. It’s workwear that makes a statement about being who you want to be, making what you want to make, and looking good while doing it.

Mitchell is a marketer and leader who’s formidable corporate credentials could mask the fact that in reality he is mainly, like the rest of us, a fan. Since childhood, he’s been an avid follower of music, sport, and style—anything creative that awakens his sense of curiosity. “We grew up in a house where there was always music playing,” says Mitchell on a call from Levi’s® New York City offices. “My Mom doesn’t like silence so leaves a radio, or a record on at all times. I grew up on the sounds of Philadelphia and Motown. A ton of jazz and soul.”

Unbeknownst to a young Mitchell, this early act of being ahead of the curve would lead him to become a college DJ from 1993 to 97. “We didn’t realize at the time, but the ’90s were really what people now consider to be the golden age of hip-hop,” he says. “Now we see that things that start in the fringes and start in subculture, those are things that end up making it into the mainstream.”

Proliferating new trends has also ended up defining the direction of Mitchell’s incredibly successful career. The marketing campaigns he’s overseen have received Cannes Lions, been nominated for Emmy awards, and been selected for Tribeca Film Festival (among others). Yet, when it comes to talking about his achievements, Mitchells’ a man of very few words. During our call, he’s much more eager to focus the successes of others, from the inspirational record producer Rick Rubin to the greats of basketball coaching. He also keenly discusses how A.I is likely to shape the future of how brands connect with their consumer, and how last summer he got hooked, as many of us did, on Amapiano.

Mitchell’s current favorite conversational topic is the 150 years of near indestructible brand love Levi’s® has built since its founder first brought Serge de Nîmes (literally “strong fabric from Nîmes, France”) to San Francisco and tailored them with copper rivets for gold-rush miners. “Folks at the fall of the Berlin Wall wore Levi’s, as did the hippies at Woodstock,” says Mitchell with a palpable sense of wonder at the the brand’s historical significance. “Steve Jobs wore Levi’s® when introducing the first iPod, as did Barack Obama when he threw out the first pitch [at a Washington DC Nationals game in 2010.]” He names countless other Levi’s® patrons, from groundbreaking artists Andy Warhol and Basquiat to Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Zendaya. “For the people driving progress, Levi’s® has always been their silent partner.”