My jaw, having only just reattached itself following my encounter with Geoffrey Block, falls a tad. “O…kay?”
“I mean to say, never take the suits’ word as an accurate reflection of reality. And definitely never take it as a reflection on yourself. I’ve gone toe to toe with Block on so many things over the years. I know of at least a few times early on that he tried to get me fired. Probably the only reason he hasn’t is that viewers and the other Friends like me too much.Fuss-Free Foodiecrushes it in ratings. My blog’s super popular. I’ve made myself invaluable to the brand. But the guy is a creep and, unfortunately, short of him doing something so over the line that the other suits couldn’t possibly ignore it, he’s here to stay.
“But all the rest of us here like and respect you and we have your back. We’re your coworkers but I feel like the other chefswould agree that we want to be your friends and supports, too. All that to say, if someone’s being a jerk to you, feel entitled to push back. Or if you’re uncomfortable doing that, tell one of us and we’ll do it for you. We’ve all been there, especially Nia, Lily, and me.”
I hope I properly mask my inner fangirl freak-out at the suggestion that we’refriendsand nod, swallowing the fresh wave of emotion Katherine’s words have brought on.
“Anyway, the internet is a cesspool, we have some dirtbags in charge, and you and I don’t have it nearly as bad as a lot of people. I don’t know what all is happening with the fall internship, but I believe you’re counting yourself out too early for things that shouldn’t even be a factor. Don’t let yourself be swayed by stupid internet trolls and men too up their own asses to recognize that an eighteen-year-old girl’s looks and actions and love life have no bearing on her professional abilities. Don’t be a martyr because the shit you’ve faced in the past has convinced you that you don’t deserve better this time around. You deserve it all and you should let yourself go after it.”
She drops that last statement like a bomb, and I sit in silence for a moment wiping at the tears on my cheeks. Everything she’s saying just sounds so…smart. And refreshing. And empowering. Because she’s Katherine, and she knows what she’s doing.
“So. You staying in the game?” she asks.
The feeling that I have right now is the exact opposite of what I felt after running into Geoffrey Block, CEO, or after hearinghim and Aiden talking to Benny. I am peeking back out from my hidey-hole and finding that what looked to be endless gloom and doom outside was actually a passing summer storm. I’m finding out that maybe I was wrong, that thereisanother path I could take, and that path is brightly lit and has good people to walk with me along the way.
“Yes,” I say finally, and we both smile as Katherine takes my hand and we shake.
Then she says, “Great. I have an idea. And it’s going to require backup.”
She pulls out her phone and starts tapping out messages, presumably to the “backup” she referred to, not looking to me for an answer. But once again, it wasn’t really a question.
The next afternoon, it’s standing room only in Aiden’s office. He and Geoffrey Block, CEO, are leaning against the edge of the desk nearly shoulder to shoulder, facing a semicircle made up of Margie, Nia, Lily, Teagan, Katherine, and me.
“Feminism…with Flavor?”
Geoffrey Block, CEO, says the words like the flavor in question is battery acid. He looks cornered, and he kind of is. This meeting was a bit of an ambush, thanks to Margie waiting until the last minute to tell the two men that she had some guests joining their after-lunch huddle. She didn’t want to leave them any time to speculate on what we wanted or come up with some canned response to any request we might make.
Getting Margie as our ally was the second-best plan Katherine pulled together yesterday. The first, she’s about to explain.
“Yes. The title is negotiable, though we think that one’s pretty clever. But the point is that Friends of Flavor has an opportunityto be a leader in the online community by showing that we stand up for women. For years now, our colleagues—especially our female colleagues—have faced near-constant attacks and vitriol in response to simply existing as confident women in our videos. It has been notably worse as of late, and particularly directed toward the youngest and least experienced of us, making her first impression of working in this industry an unfavorable one. With Feminism with Flavor, the women of Friends of Flavor and our allies will show that we won’t back down or hide ourselves away and therefore reward the temper tantrums of a small faction of trolls. Rather, we will double down, starting a dedicated video series that, in addition to carrying out our main purpose of sharing recipes and food prep as entertainment, will highlight important women’s issues.”
Nia chimes in, right on schedule. “We have a list of potential guests, from scholars to media personalities to professional athletes, who we can invite on the show to cook with us, and as we cook, we will have informal interviews and discussions about their experiences with feminism, gender discrimination, working in their respective fields as women, and so on. The goal is to educate and, of course, entertain viewers while also sending the message that women are not here to appease any and all critics. We will not be silenced. And Friends of Flavor cares about amplifying our voices.”
Aiden looks thoughtful. Geoffrey Block, CEO, looks like we just asked him to take his pants off and hang them as a flag atop the Space Needle.
We formed this proposal, which has been tabbed and stapled and highlighted and is currently resting in the hands of Margie, Aiden, and Geoffrey Block, CEO, in less than twenty-four hours. To be fair, Katherine had a lot of her own scribbled notes already compiled when she called the rest of us together.
Shortly after Katherine and I finished what I think of as our brain-to-heart (the former hers, the latter mine) in the pantry, Lily and Nia showed up and joined us in a floor huddle. Katherine gave us the rundown of her vision, an idea she’s had on her mind for years and was finally motivated to set into motion after seeing what I’d been going through this summer from the sidelines. Apparently, she noticed me much more than I’d thought. I asked if we could loop Teagan in, because she does a lot more in her admin role than she gets credit for, and I thought she’d love a chance to help with a woman-powered project. My suspicion proved correct, as Teagan was already bouncing in her seat when I told her about it. Nia suggested we propose it to Margie and see whether she would be willing to back us up with Aiden and the suits if we came up with a detailed plan. Margie’s exact words, when the four of us approached her at her desk a few minutes later, were, “Oh, hell yes.”
Immediately after work, Nia, Lily, Teagan, and I piled into Nia’s car and met Katherine at her apartment on the northwest side of town. The drive was similar to the one Benny and I took to Golden Gardens on our first date, where we’d walked along the beach. A pang of missing him hit me again, and I knew I needed to figure out what to say to him soon.
But first, there was other business to attend to.
At Katherine’s place, we ordered burritos and drank wine—which was only allowed after I swore I’d never accuse them of corrupting me—and discussed our ideas for the project. Within a few hours, we had our proposal fully fleshed out. And thus, Feminism with Flavor was born.
Now, though, standing in the silent office, it feels plausible that I’ve made the mistake of counting this particular chicken before it had the chance to hatch. A tiny part of me is tempted to say, “Look, y’all, thanks for trying, but we can go back to the original plan of me quitting, that’d be way easier for all involved, no skin off my nose, best of luck to ya.”
But I look at the confident expressions on the faces of the strong women around me, and it makes me want to be stronger, too. So I keep my trap shut. The silence has become tense and almost awkward as the boss man of all boss men skeptically eyes his packet.
“Forgive me, but,” he begins, and I know this can be going nowhere good, “what about the men who watch our channel? Do we really want to look so biased? We can’t alienate half our viewership.”
I see Katherine open her mouth to respond, but then I must enter some kind of alternate reality in which I think I’m the best one to take these questions, as I open my big mouth and beat her to the punch. “Who’s to say they’ll be alienated, though? Men watch plenty of TV shows and movies led by women. Or if theydon’t, they certainly should. We’ve been put through five millionFast and the Furiousand James Bond movies, for goodness’ sake. And if they’re opposed to watching and learning from women, because they think we’re boring or don’t get our perspectives, well, I reckon they’re part of the problem.”
I fold my arms over my chest defiantly, then lose my remaining nerve and avert my eyes from those of the CEO. When I look at the other women instead, they’re all staring at me with some measure of shock, some looking amused and impressed on top of that.
Katherine is the first one to shake herself out of it and narrows her gaze on Geoffrey Block, CEO, once more. “It may also be of interest to you that if this series doesn’t happen at Friends of Flavor, I plan on hosting it on my personal site, the Kat’s Muse. I have advertisers who have long expressed interest in helping me launch my own videos, but I’ve been reluctant to take any of FoF’s thunder. I would feel obligated to make it clear, though, that I was only hosting the series because this channel had rejected the proposal.”
My jaw drops along with Katherine’s figurative mic. She kept that little contingency plan from us yesterday, butdamn.Of course she had a secret weapon in her back pocket.
