Book Review: All the Cool Girls Get Fired
“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
The year 2025 was a rough job market. According to a USA Today article “Layoffs are Hitting,” 2025 was “the worst year for announced layoffs since 2009” due to industries “correcting after the hiring boom after the pandemic, but this comes amid AI adoption, softening consumer and corporate spending, and rising costs.” (Powel, 2025)
Even if you were not laid off, you probably directly or indirectly know someone who was laid off last year for reasons beyond job performance. Job loss is hard and can be an overwhelming experience to navigate emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.
In All the Cool Girls Get Fired, authors Laura Brown and Kristina O’Neil offer an honest discussion about being laid off and coming back stronger. Brown and O’Neil weave their own experiences of being fired from top profile positions within the fashion industry with tangible tips for navigating the post-firing reality. Along with actionable steps, they share other well-known women’s experiences of being fired in various industries, highlighting that being laid off – fired – is a shared experience that can become a setup for the next chapter in your professional life.
The Practical Steps
I was asked to review All the Cool Girls Get Fired right before my university went through a campus-wide reduction of staff and faculty. Thankfully, I was spared, but I was made aware of how quickly someone’s employment status can change in a day. It is a vulnerable space to be in and makes one more empathic for those who did lose their jobs.
Brown and O’Neil provide practical steps to take starting the day you get fired and during the weeks or months afterward. They discuss tips on severance negotiation, applying for unemployment benefits, reviewing your finances, determining if you need a lawyer, healthcare options, mental health, and networking and interviewing.
Two of the scariest realities of a job loss are finances and healthcare coverage. Brown and O’Neil break down these scary realities with small actions that help you breathe and avoid making rash decisions in a moment of distress. Simple steps include reviewing your finances to cut expenses, determining how long your severance will last, putting away the credit card (if you use one), and applying for unemployment benefits (we pay for those taxes in our salary and there is no shame or guilt in seeking this resource). These are all things within your control. Additionally, find out when your health insurance will end and schedule all medical visits and prescriptions while you are still covered. Then review your new healthcare coverage options (Brown and O’Neil, p. 94).
Yes, this is overwhelming. But these small and hard steps can place you in a better space mentally, emotionally, and spiritually for your next step in your professional life.
The Setup
“If I hadn’t been fired, then I would have missed X opportunity.”
The common theme in all the first-hand job firing stories was that the job loss set these women up for the next, and usually better, opportunity. Job loss is hard and comes with a multitude of emotions: shame, embarrassment, guilt, and anger. At the moment it can be difficult to see how this job loss and stress is setting you up for anything good, let alone better.
Job loss is a stop, pause, and reset moment. Threaded in the stories and practical steps was the idea that job loss is an opportunity to reflect on your skills, experiences, motivation, and personal brand to see what you enjoyed about the job and where you want to go next. Perhaps it is staying within your industry or stretching out into something entirely new. Brown and O’Neil remark on the changing work landscape and the simple fact that “the definition of work itself is no longer linear,” and “Chief Suite” is no longer necessarily the highest career goal or statement of success (p. 21).
We as Catholic Christians know that with the Lord, “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28). The Lord is with us in this time of loss and hardship. He sees us, and He is walking with you now as you prepare for the next chapter in your career.
Your Identity
“Your job is not your identity” (p. 239).
Read that again. Our identity is not in our jobs. Our identity is as beloved daughters of God, the Father.
Brown and O’Neil highlight this simple and true fact that a job is not an identity. The word they use is ‘lending’ – you were lending your “credibility, value, and talents to the organization” (p. 239). We are lending the gifts given to us by God to an organization, and we can and will do so with the next organization.
While Brown and O’Neil connect your identity with your passion, motivation, and brand, we as Catholic Christians know the deeper truth that our identity is beloved. It is not earned or received from anything or anyone other than the Father who created us “in his image, in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Our identity is tied to the Father – we are His, job or no job.
This is simple and true, and so hard to believe and live, especially in times of distress such as a job loss or an upcoming job loss. The Lord is here, fighting and moving mountains we cannot see. The Lord does not change. Our identity as beloved does not change. We are in His gaze because we are His.
Job loss is an overwhelming and distressing experience. You may feel alone, but you are not. Others have been fired, and those who have not may be fired one day. There is nothing shameful about the experience. Brown and O’Neil’s All the Cool Girls Get Fired gives you practical steps and first-hand accounts of others' firing experience. This is not the end, but the beginning.
The Catholic Women in Business community is with you, praying and offering support.
Most importantly, the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He is with you. Look into His gaze and in the quiet hear His outpouring of love, mercy, and strength for the days to come.
Alexandra (Alex) Harrel resides in Irving, Texas. She is a new student affairs professional within the world of higher education. In her spare time, she loves reading, listening to podcasts, and spending time outdoors. Her favorite prayer is Hail, Holy Queen. You can follow her on Instagram at @2012alexandra.