Authors: Jayson Dash
For twenty-three years Sabrina’s mother
broke barriers and stereotypes of all kinds. Everybody thought she was crazy
for wanting to publish a fashion magazine. But it wasn’t the idea of starting a
magazine in the mid-eighties; it was just the fact that she was a young, black
single mother raising a kid on her own while working two jobs to make ends
meet. While other women like her living in the projects were out selling their
bodies on the street to strangers, getting raped, beaten and sometimes getting
killed, Sabrina’s mother took her good looks to the strip club and started
working there, where she eventually met Sabrina’s would-be stepfather Sean. It
was instant mutual attraction and from the first lap dance was all it took to
have him hooked and not before long he swept her off her feet and out of the
projects to New York where they settled down and got married. A year later he
loaned her the money to debut the magazine. Then it was off to Miami where
things went to a whole new level and the publishing world never knew what it
hit it.
She gathered her folder full of notes
just as Raquel walked in with a cup of hot coffee.
“Anything else I can get you?”
“That’ll be if for now. Thanks. ”
“Okay.”
Sabrina headed over to the conference
room, where the room was filled with a bunch of rich white guys in suits and
maybe one or two females. Sitting at the head of the table was a
thirty-something looking guy dressed in a pen-stripe Italian suit. He arose
from his chair and extended his hand. “And you must be the beautiful
co-editor-in-chief, Sabrina Evans?”
“Yes, that would be me.” She shook his
hand firmly. “And you must be Lance King, the CEO of King Cosmetics, and
world’s top-leading cosmetics company in the world?”
He smiled and said, “I see you did your
homework.”
“Well, yes. And I happen to be a big fan
of King Cosmetics, especially the cherry shimmer lip-gloss—it’s my favorite.
And don’t get me started on the eye shadow.”
“Don’t worry, you won’t,” said Camille
as she waltzed into the room, dressed in a crème pantsuit, her crimson colored
hair pulled back into a boring bun. “I’ll be sure to stop you.” She shook the
investor’s hand before taking her seat at the head of the round table.
Sabrina took her place in front of the
many faces she knew was just waiting for her to say something stupid. She said,
“Good morning, everyone.” They smiled and greeted her back. She turned on the
projector and a screen descended from the ceiling. She continued, “My name is
Sabrina Evans and I am the co-editor-in-chief of
Fabulous
magazine and I
am here today to show you all why King Cosmetics should advertise in our
magazine. Now, if you would all please turn your attention to the screen.”
She stood up there for at least half an
hour babbling about how
Fabulous
magazine was a great way to get Kings
Cosmetics’ clients attention in every community nationwide, also noting the
tremendous amount of gross the company would make and save versus going to
another magazine. Sabrina delivered a powerful presentation, and yet at the end
of it all, some people were looking at her as if she didn’t belong there, like
she didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t want to think it was
because she was a black woman standing amongst a crowd of men, so she just kept
her cool.
Lance King looked impressed, and that
was her main goal. After he gave her a brief applaud, he said, “Well, Miss
Evans, I must say that was a very educating presentation.” He looked to his
colleagues and asked, “Can anybody tell me why we shouldn’t sign with
Fabulous
magazine?”
They talked amongst themselves and no
one said anything about objecting the idea.
With that, Lance stood up next to
Sabrina and said, “Well, I think you’ve got yourself a deal.”
She smiled, proud of herself.
They shook hands again and the room went
into an uproar of applause. Once everyone left the room, Camille came up to
Sabrina and said, “You were fierce up there.”
Sabrina chuckled and said, “I guess you
couldn’t tell how nervous I was up there.”
“Nope. You did a great job. Well, I have
to get started on some ideas for the twenty-third anniversary issue. I don’t
even care about it being the weekend. You got any plans?”
“Of course not.”
Camille chuckled and added, “Why did I
even ask?” she crossed her arms at her chest. “If you spent half as much time
on your relationship as you do work, maybe you wouldn’t be so miserable.”
That stung, for like, a second. She let
the comment roll off her. “At least I can get a man.”
Camille sneered. “At least I can keep
one.”
Turning, Sabrina cursed and hurried back
to her office before her temper flared up.
She took her frustrations of Carl and
everything else and channeled it into work. If there was anything practical she
learned in college, it was that you have to kill your competition with a smile
and when that didn’t work, success was the next best thing. As she worked on
her latest assignment, she realized she was supposed to collaborate with
Camille. She cringed at the thought of sharing credit with that entitled
half-sister of hers who never hesitated to take credit for everything. Looking
over Camille’s half, Sabrina felt disgusted and fed up.
Enough was enough.
She marched over to Sean Mead’s office
and stepped into his spacious office and walked over to his desk. Since he was
her stepfather and boss, it made it awkward to come to him at times, fearing
that he would think she couldn’t hold her ground.
His office was dimly lit with a nice
homey feel too it; large windows with the blinds closed gave it that darkness
that and the atmosphere cool and calm. When Sabrina’s mother worked in the
office it was a totally different atmosphere and more chic. Sean looked up from
his pile of paperwork, smiled and said, “Sabrina, it’s good to see you this
morning. Please, have a seat.”
She obliged and took a seat in one of
the leather chairs in front of his desk. “Morning, Sean. My head is throbbing.”
He surveyed the look on her face and
asked, “What’s got you looking so upset?”
Sabrina slid the layout in front of him
and said, “Take a look at this.”
He took a moment to scan the pages. “He
looked up and said, “Let me guess: This must be Camille and Tasha’s work?”
“Yes, sir, it is.”
He shook his hand and said, “Sometimes I
wonder about that daughter of mine and where she gets her horrible work ethics
from because she certainly did not get it from me.”
“That’s for sure.” Sabrina laughed
humorlessly. “But seriously though, I’m thinking about starting from scratch.
That’s the only way I’ll be able to go to sleep tonight.”
Sean leaned back in his chair and
smiled. “Wow. If I were to say that was unexpected of you would, it would be an
understatement. But tell me Sabrina, how are you going to start all over from
scratch and have the magazine in time for print? You have to book photo shoots,
schedule interviews, and set up meetings with agents and advertisers. Simply
put, it is a lot of responsibility for one person.”
“Trust me, it’ll be a cakewalk. But have
I ever given you a reason to doubt me?”
“Of course not.”
“Exactly. Then why doubt me now?”
She studied him as he waited a beat,
considering her words. Ever since he became chairmen after her mother Dorothy
stepped down and left him in charge, he was reluctant to take the position but
since Dorothy had it written in her will and contract that no other member of
the Evans-Mead family could own
Fabulous
magazine with no exceptions, he
really didn’t have much choice. Sabrina and Camille really didn’t have the work
experience to be able to handle all the work on their own so it was left to
Sean to lead the way until they could and so far he was doing a pretty damn
good job at it with no complaints.
Sabrina was certain that she had the
potential to take over once he decided to retire in the far away future, even
if that meant fighting Camille tooth and nail for the position. Camille was too
immature even for her own age to be able to handle a position with such
responsibility and leadership qualities it took to keep the company running.
She could barely keep up as it. Sabrina on the other hand, there was no doubt
in her mind that she had everything and was a natural-born leader like her
mother. Or maybe it was something she picked up from him? He definitely knew
how to balance work and family. Sabrina often wondered just how the hell he
managed to do it all and make it look so easy.
Moving around his desk, he said, “You’re
right; I have no reason to doubt you, and I won’t.” He waited a beat and asked,
“So, what approach are you going with this time?”
Sabrina stood up and said, “I am not
telling you just yet—you are just going to have to wait until the final product
is sitting on your desk. And trust me; it is going to be hot!”
“Of course.
Fabulous
wouldn’t be
a magazine without it.”
She let out a soft laugh. “Well, I
better get started if I want to meet that dead line. I have a lot of phone
calls to make.”
Sure, she had a big mess on her hands to
clean up but she was for sure that there was no one else with more dedication
than she had to be able to fix and make it look good. She could do it without
bitching and moaning about this and that and pointing the blame finger
everywhere but at herself.
“Well, don’t let me get in your way,”
Sean said, opening his office door and stepping to the side.
Before she knew it a full two weeks had
flown by in the blink of an eye. And what a hell of a week it had been.
From dealing with a plethora of non-stop
phone calls to this person and that person, scheduling interviews, pulling off
the impossible. All in all it was going to be well worth it when she saw the
look on Camille’s face when she heard about the newly redesigned issue that she
had no hand in and she couldn’t take the credit for it like she always did.
“What do you mean you re-did the entire
issue?” asked Camille once the news first broke that Sabrina had sent the
original issue into oblivion and didn’t tell her, the editor-in-chief, anything
until the issue had already been sent to the printer.
“Don’t act like you didn’t see this
coming, Camille,” said Sabrina calmly sitting at her desk while Camille stood
in front of her desk looking fierce and stunned. “That issue was a disaster so
I took the liberty of stepping up and doing what you couldn’t.”
“Excuse you? Who do you think you are?”
Sabrina stood up and said, “What is your
problem?”
“My problem is you. How could you go
behind my back and change the issue at the last minute and not consult with me
about it?”
“I did what I had to do to save this
magazine; and besides, I did not go behind your back—I left a dozen messages on
your desk telling you what I was doing after I got approval from Sean and the
entire creative department.”
Camille rolled her eyes. “You’re a real
bitch, Sabrina. You’re going to regret crossing me.”
“If you’re done, you can get out of my
office.”
“Gladly,” said Camille, stepping away.
“But this isn’t over by a long shot.” She walked out and slammed the door.
Sabrina sat behind her desk and laughed
just to get the hatred she was feeling for Camille off her chest. She never
knew it was possible to loathe someone so much.
She figured Camille would get over the
whole ordeal but once the final issue hit magazine stands worldwide, that’s
when all hell broke loose; she came in ranting and screaming about how she
didn’t appreciate how Sean just let her do whatever she wanted.
“This is what my hard work got replaced
with?” exclaimed Camille, holding Sabrina’s handiwork as if it was hazardous
material, in Sean’s office. “Are you kidding me?”
“What is the big deal?” said Sean
coolly. “You should be glad Sabrina was able to pull your weight and hers to
make this issue happen. I saw the sample layout that you were going to send out
and if Sabrina hadn’t come in here and shown it to me and stopped it from
happening, there’s no telling how many readers we would have lost, not to
mention the money.”
“Why couldn’t I have been involved? I’m
the damn editor-in-chief, not her!” She cried as if she was actually convincing
someone.
“Because you’re a grown ass woman,”
interjected Sabrina. “And I honestly work better alone. But that’s beside the
point, Camille. The point is I saved your ass and I’m tired of it.”
“Well you know what, Sabrina? I don’t
need you saving me. Like you said, I’m a grown ass woman—and if I’m going to
make a mistake, I’ll take the blame. That’s fine.”
“Ladies, I think it’s time you two
squash this now. The main thing is that the magazine is on stands and from what
I’ve heard, copies are selling like hot cakes.” He turned to Sabrina and said,
“Sabrina, I don’t know how you did it, but you did a tremendous job.” He looked
at a copy of the magazine and said, “Throughout the twenty-three long years
running this magazine we’ve never had such a diverse cover design; that was a
brilliant idea, Sabrina.”