Kerry Docherty in Convo with Georgie Greville for Book Launch
Hello Loves! Monday, April 27, I was invited to Kerry Docherty’s book tour stop in Ojai at the Light and Space Yoga Center owned by Samantha Jones Garrison. She was promoting her second book that just landed April 21, 2026, titled, Selfish: Unlearning, Reclaiming, and Telling the Truth.
Yes, that Kerry Docherty.The woman who co-owns Faherty Brand clothing with her husband Alex Faherty & his twin brother Mike and has a store on Coast Village Road. Docherty is a lawyer, mindfulness workshop leader, mother of two, and budding author.
Docherty was invited to stop in Ojai and be interviewed by her bestie Georgie Greville, “GG.” Yes loves, that Georgie,the writer/director formerly at MTV, partner with Milk Studios in co-founding LEGS Media (doing videos for Selena Gomez and others), co-founder of Milk Makeup, and now filmmaker, mantra leader, mom, and more. Greville met Docherty at a writing class in Brooklyn called “Page Against the Machine.” Georgie moved to L.A. with her filmmaker husband in 2024 and shortly thereafter moved to Ojai to do their creative work. Docherty first visited Ojai around 10 years ago while in L.A. doing her brand work for Faherty.
It was a delight to meet Docherty and Greville and talk a bit before and after the presentation. (“Wait, are all three of us Gemini’s? And from back east? Cool!”) Ah the love!
As attendees gathered around the sunlit yoga studio sitting on yoga mats and chairs, its gentleness was suffused with the interesting truths her book reveals. Although this was likely Docherty’s 20th book talk, she still seemed to have a small case of nerves, wondering how it would come across and thinking about getting to Santa Monica by 7 pm – all the while smilingly upholding her stalwart Irish veneer. A few ice-breaking moments reading humorous interludes from the book settled the vibe a bit, as did sharing about naked yoga with Velvet.
Greville stood firm in pulling out of Docherty her thoughts concerning the writing process, what it entails, and the importance of women telling their stories – comparing the book to the tarot deck, starting with the Fool’s journey and ending with the World cards. On what the writing of books provides Docherty, Greville asked, “Wouldn’t you say its healing,” and the canonical question, “What did you find after completing your book?” Docherty responded, “I feel so free now, I am my own muse. To write this book I had to disassociate with the consequences of who reads it, and I thought everyone is going to love it. When we write a book about our life, we are writing about other people. The most selfish thing I could do was write this book. This is a happy ending for Alex and I, each day we get to choose each other.”
She also shared first that there were edits with a lawyer – “Should I leave out the word vagina here and what about mentioning Beau…” – and there is always your editor… Docherty, “When your editor says you’re not likable enough and you realize that means you’re telling the truth.”
In quick summary, the book starts with Docherty negotiating her salary as an equal partner to Alex and Mike at a psychologist’s office. It then weaves a timeline of her life with mini-excerpts from childhood and college where she met Alex. The book mostly centers on her life during the inception and growth of the Faherty brand, which started in 2013. A cogent event happened in 2015 when selling their clothes out of a van at Coachella she meets, “Beau” (name changed of course, my dears!). She has an eight-year platonic affair with Beau while married and pregnant with her first, detailing her emotional “feels.” That is counterposed with multiple story lines, from her family’s alcoholism, her sister’s liberation as queer, living with Alex, Mike, and her mother-in-law during the start of the Faherty brand, self-explorations with psychics and therapists, to her two baby deliveries.
The unique caveat about this book is however many brows its raises, there are just as many brows it does not. We have been living with “open source” books for a bit now, and avid readers come to expect anything. In fact, many readers are eager to read such stories, and to others it is inspiration to write their own. As is the case with all books documenting one’s life stories, the books written by those that lived their story are as close to their truth as we will read, and with their relatable human elements afford an opportunity to understand each other.
One inevitable detail emerged in the talk; does the book make or break the Faherty brand? Here Docherty shared, “I did a visit to our Montecito store the other day, and I could just tell that my team there had all read the book by the way they greeted me… oh Hiiiiiii Kerry how are you?! I’m fine Michael, thanks.” (The Montecito store opened in 2024, and Michael Holden is the store lead.) Everyone in the room burst into laughter.
I couldn’t help but wonder…will Kerry’s book “Selfish” be available there for purchase?! Or on the Faherty website next to her first book?!
There are positive reviews in Vogue and Women’s Wear Daily to comfort the owners. To Docherty, however, the most important review is the one by her husband Alex, who – after his expected initial emotions at the exposé – has written the following on public sites like LinkedIn and socials. “And today, another dream comes to life as her memoir chronicles her life, entrepreneurship, being a mom, a wife, a woman, and all the ups and downs and everything in between. It’s beautifully written and such an honest and vulnerable thing to put out to the world. We have been through so much together over the last 20 years – we’ve been business partners, life partners, parents, and gone through so many seasons of life. And we just keep getting better. So proud of you, Ker.”
And as for guesses who “Beau” is, my instinct tells me: the Coachella date is Michael Sean “Fitz” Fitzpatrick of Fitz and the Tantrums… too many clues and links IMO! As for who “Velvet” is, perhaps she has already shown up for what may be a sequel – No pressure Ker, just sayin’ give me a call when you start writing that third book…!
Till next week fans, Xx JAC
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