The inimitable Dolly Parton is gracing the cover of People Magazine as one of their 2021 People of the Year.
Though she says she was skeptical of accepting the cover because she didn’t feel like she really deserved it, the Tennessee native has accomplished a hell of a lot over the past year.
We’ve seen her branch out into the perfume market, fund a portion of the Moderna COVID vaccine with a million dollar donation, as well as continuing her incredible work with her charity Imagination Library.
The Queen of country music (even though she hates the title) just turned 75 earlier this year, but she has not slowed down one bit.
She sat down with People to talk about what keeps her going and how she continues to outwork basically everyone in the industry, when she could easily be enjoying a nice, quiet retirement in some multi-million dollar mansion somewhere:
“I keep dreaming myself into a corner! But I can’t stop now. I’ve learned you can’t just say, ‘Oh, my dream’s come true and I’m walking out of here.’
No, you’ve got to show you’re grateful and show that you’re not going to just leave it all in the hands of other people.
So, I’m going to be right here, doing what I’m doing, ’til I fall over dead.”
Of course, with everything she has going on, Dolly has a pretty big team behind her helping her accomplish all of these incredible milestones.
I mean, can you imagine having Dolly Parton as your boss? Pink glitter and butterflies all over the office, blonde wigs for every occasion… and she will sure as hell keep you on your toes:
“I’m a good boss, I think. I try to rule with love and compassion. But also, there’s a fine line that says, ‘She’s not a pushover.’ I’m a fair and honest person.
I like to be as friendly as I can and love the people that work with me and I like to have them love me.”
And, she never wants her employees to feel like they can’t come and talk to her when they have something on their mind:
“I know that we’re using each other and that when it’s time for them to go on, they can. But I want to be the kind of person, if they need to come talk to me, they can almost like as a friend and then we’ll get to the business. I don’t want anybody to be afraid to come to me.”
Please let me know where I can sign up for a therapy session with Dolly.
But like anything in life, even she has some people she has to lay down the law with every now and then:
“Some people I have to kick their ass up one side and down the other because some people will just not listen.
And then you do have your creative vampires. You do have your energy vampires and you’ve got some people that just going to eat you up alive.”
All of these ventures, like her theme park in East Tennessee, Dollywood, are spawned out of a need to be creative and keep working:
“I have all kinds of companies, like Dollywood. It was my idea to have Dollywood, to have a theme park, but I knew I didn’t know anything about running it, but I knew I would find people.
So I always do that, though, with anything. I hire people. I see what I need and what I want, but I know I can’t do all that myself.”
And if you want some really solid business advice, Dolly’s the one to take it from considering the brand she’s built for herself over the decades:
“In some cases, I’m not educated enough to do it. In some cases, I’m not smart enough to do it, but I’m smart enough to know what I want and what I don’t want.
I’m smart enough to know what I can and can’t do, and so that’s how you have to look at it.”
Her impact goes far beyond the world of country music, and in the later part of her career, she’s become a pop culture icon who is universally loved.
I mean, I literally can’t think of one single person I know who doesn’t like Dolly Parton.
Please, someone… tell me how this woman is 75 years old. I just don’t believe it… look at her stunning cover:
Check out her full interview here:
