Hillary Clinton, Beth Comstock, Soon-Yi: Broadsheet September 18

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Hillary Clinton writes that American democracy is in crisis, ‘Mrs. Maisel’ wins big at the Emmys, and Beth Comstock gives us a peek at her new book. Have a great Tuesday.

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Saying no to Steve. Today's essay comes to us from Beth Comstock, former vice chair at GE, whose new book, Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change, hits shelves today. In this exclusive excerpt, Comstock describes getting a surprise recruiting call from none other than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs—and why she turned him down not once, but twice:

As NBC’s new head of digital, I’d been working with [f500link]Apple[/f500link] to push more of our digital content to iTunes, and I got to know their team as the relationship grew. I met with Steve’s right-hand man, iTunes VP Eddy Cue and got to know Allison Johnson, their head of advertising. Eddy later approached me about working for him, as a general manager for iTunes.

When Steve called me to seal the job offer in November, it came so out of the blue that I couldn’t think of anything to say, except that anyone would be stupid to not consider such a great opportunity. I went to Cupertino as a next step, meeting with a number of people at Apple, culminating with Steve himself.

I was led into Steve’s stark-white conference room next to his office. Steve seemingly materialized out of nowhere in his black mock turtleneck and jeans. He was smaller in person than I expected. Our meeting lasted an hour. We talked a lot about GE’s ad campaigns, about our clean technology business strategy Ecomagination, and about NBC and digital content. He didn’t make any specific offers or mention a title other than iTunes management. I realized I was being felt out. It was all very Jedi.

A few days later, he left a message on my cell phone: “This is Steve Jobs. I just wanted to say how much we’d like to have you work for us at Apple. We’re about to make something really big happen. You haven’t seen anything yet. If you have any questions, I’m happy to talk to you directly.”

Read the rest of the excerpt on Fortune.com.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• The Sherman-Palladino show. Amy Sherman-Palladino made history at last night's Emmys, becoming the first woman to ever win for comedy writing and directing—both for Amazon's Marvelous Mrs. Maisel—in the same year. "It was just an interesting fluke that at the time that Maisel came out we were taking some trolls down,” she said of the show with feminist themes. “I’m glad that it’s a character that still resonates…a lot of those problems still exist and that just makes us more relevant and that’s just delicious—you can’t plan for that, that is just fate.” Variety

• Kavanaugh continued. The reactions to Christine Blasey Ford's allegations that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were in high school continue. Donald Trump Jr. posted a meme on Instagram mocking Ford, while Kellyanne Conway said on Fox & Friends that Ford "should not be insulted and she should not be ignored." Kavanaugh and Ford will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee in public hearings next Monday. New York Times

• Clinton's call. Hillary Clinton is back—this time in The Atlantic—warning about the state of our democracy. In a piece for the magazine, Clinton writes that American democracy is in crisis. "I don’t use the word crisis lightly," she writes. "There are no tanks in the streets. The administration’s malevolence may be constrained on some fronts—for now—by its incompetence. But our democratic institutions and traditions are under siege. We need to do everything we can to fight back." The Atlantic

• Soon-Yi's story. Soon-Yi Previn has never spoken publicly about the allegations of child sexual abuse against her husband, Woody Allen, and his battle with her mother and his ex-wife, Mia Farrow. In the first profile of Previn, who began a relationship with Allen when she was 21 and has been married to him for 20 years, she defends Allen and talks about her unhappy childhood with Farrow. The profile was written by a longtime friend of Allen, and it's a disquieting read. Vulture

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Jennifer Smith is the new CMO of Alfresco Software. Penny Herscher joins the board of data management company Delphix.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Bloomberg 2020? Michael Bloomberg is considering running for president as a Democrat in 2020, but some of his views and comments on the #MeToo movement could get in the way. The billionaire former New York City mayor said that the "stuff [he] read about [was] disgraceful" but that he doesn't know "how true all of it is." Fortune

• Cooking with Meghan. Meghan Markle's first solo project as Duchess of Sussex is a cookbook in partnership with families affected by the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in London. The cookbook, featuring a forward by Markle, a former food blogger, contains recipes from women who have been cooking in a common kitchen after losing their homes in the fire. The proceeds will go toward keeping that common kitchen open. The Telegraph

• Libel lawsuit. In the most recent development in the #MeToo allegations against Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento, Argento threatened to sue Rose McGowan over a statement McGowan made in August. McGowan said at the time that she had cut ties with former friend Argento and that Argento had told McGowan's partner, Rain Dove, that she had "slept with" Jimmy Bennett, who is now 22, and had received nude photos from him since he was 12. Fortune

• Cover story. Fast Company and Inc. partnered to devote both of their October issues to female founders and business leaders. Backstage Capital founder Arlan Hamilton covers Fast Company, and Inc. features Dr. Brené Brown, known for her TED Talk "The Power of Vulnerability." The two publications partnered on a survey that found that 62% of female founders experienced bias while fundraising. Fast Company

Today's Broadsheet was produced by Emma Hinchliffe. Share it with a friend. Looking for previous Broadsheets? Click here.