1976. A 22-year-old Japanese American woman enters the management ranks of a major corporation and encounters...just what you'd expect. Sexism. Misogyny. Racial bias. And she breaks barriers anyway. From the moment Elaine Koyama was hired as a management trainee at agri-business giant Cargill, Inc., she found herself entangled in the endless fight to wedge herself through the doors the women's movement opened. As men and women all over the country began to examine and redefine the boundaries of their roles, Koyama, fresh out of Stanford, navigated farmyard sales calls, meetings at strip clubs, and a new life in the heart of the Midwest. In Let Me In, Koyama shares the true story of how she fought her way through the corporate jungle before the term glass ceiling was even coined.

"In 1976 as the women’s movement started to gain traction Elaine Koyama, a recent Stanford graduate from a Montana farm, entered the work world in what we called a 'non-traditional' position. She was an ag (feed) sales person on the fast track into management. Let Me In follows Elaine through the funny, absurd, and confusing times for women who were vanguards on this path. With hard work and help from family and friends she succeeded (maybe I should say endured) where many men and women failed. This a must read for those of us that lived it as well as those that want to understand what really happened when you were one of the first women in a Fortune 500 company to blaze a path for those that followed." (Ruth Bokelman Conn Ag Sales 1976-2019 Chevron Chemical Cargill Seed DuPont Crop Protection Syngenta Crop Protection)

"Engaging, insightful, this book resonates across culture, ethnicity, and gender. An often humorous look into managing a career." (Stephanie Keire, retired executive vice president Wells Fargo Bank)

"An interesting listen of the first 20 years of a non-traditional woman in a changing business environment." (Jerry Rohlfsen, retired Cargill vice president)