the end of Tiger Yesterday I came into the store I helped build from nothing to be told by my business partner, Brian Presley, that I am out of the business. Shock aside, I prompted him for some kind of explanation for his decision, but the best he could provide was a simple “this is what I need to be comfortable moving forward”. In that moment, as a man more than a foot taller towered over me, my consciousness lifted and watched from above us; what choice did I have here? I could not fight for what was mine because this was his plan all along - it became so clear he had always intended on taking what we created, but he expertly hid his intentions with kindness and false friendship. Alone in the store with a man twice my size is not an appropriate, fair or reasonable way to have conducted this conversation, as he must have assumed because our third partner could have been, but was not present. The third partner and I had actually spent time together outside of work, getting coffees, walking and talking about our lives; became close friends who could share anything, but where was he in this decision? in this aggressive moment of intimation and utter scumbaggery? Nowhere, he was nowhere because he didn’t actually care about me - his motives are unclear but I am fairly certain he was driven by the money he could make without me in the picture. The parting of ways was seemingly going well until I began questioning the books; funds Brian had taken from profits for expenses such as September rent and storage fees. Since Brian removed me from the business, half of these expenses taken from our profit are owed to me - totaling $1,477 that he refuses to pay. I would have taken this in stride had Brian had the integrity to pay me this last money I am owed, but he has wrapped himself so tightly in his “i’m a nice guy, who couldn’t love me”’persona that he actually sees himself this way. The small abuses started to flood back into my memory; the time a client was about to purchase a desk I had worked very hard to rehab, but just before I could close the deal Brian interrupted to offer this same guest a different desk that cost half the price, the profit of this sale would be entirely brian’s. Had he not taken that sale, Brian still would have made $100 from my sale, but I made nothing from his. Last week, I squatted on the floor as I tried to repair a piece in the store to which Brian barked at me: “you’re still taking up too much space” The countless times Brian snapped at me, cut me off mid sentence to tell me I did not know what I was talking about. The lack of gratitude for the painstaking work I did sourcing clothing, jewelry, furniture, decor for the store - all of these items he claimed for his store and again, what can a woman of 5’2” do to defend my work and belongings? SERIOUSLY, WHAT COULD I DO BESIDES JUST TAKE IT FROM BRIAN BECAUSE HE IS BIGGER AND STRONGER AND SCARED RHE HELL OUT OF ME. To my neighbors, I share this with you because I am still shaken up but also because at the seed of this story is a truth too many women have had to face in our professional lives: women are too often forced, intimidated, ousted, degraded, disregarded, downright f*cked in business and the law may protect our finances but it cannot begin to address the emotional toll this type of cruelty takes on our humanity, on our will to physically get up the next day and build again from scratch. But build I shall because Brian can take my store, he can attempt to take me down a notch by condescending the value of my work, but Brian can’t do what I do because authenticity can’t be faked just as a tiger can’t change his stripes; whether it happens this week or next month, Brian will come head to head with a moment that he can’t fake a smile through and his true self will show. Good people don’t finish last, we just don’t take shortcuts or step on the backs of others to make our way. If we do finish last, I take that to mean that we are the ones left standing, while all the Brian’s and Jamie’s of the world are long extinct and forgotten.