SEP 27, 2018 – While my right hand, Liz, and I were working away here this morning, we had Dr. Ford’s live testimony on in the background. We agreed that the mere thought of being questioned as she was, saying what she must, seemed unimaginably difficult to us. It was when Liz said, “And maybe the worst part is that we all have stories,” that I shared mine:
When I was in my early 20s, back in my Chicago PR days, one of my clients was a cognac producer, launching a new brand in the states. I was a little wide-eyed about this very prestigious client, a handsome and elegant French count in from Paris; my role was to book media interviews and then accompany him to them. In the limo on the way home from dinner with a reporter, he reached out and began aggressively kissing me, pressing me back into the seat while grabbing my hand and forcing it to his groin. While trying to push him away, I called to the driver, “Please, stop the car! I need to get out now.” And I walked the six blocks home to my kind and caring boyfriend, shaken and crying the whole way.
The next morning, feeling full of inexplicable shame, I trudged into the office of my boss. Janet Diederichs was a force in the Chicago business community, a pioneer in PR, with her own firm decades before other woman entrepreneurs. I told Janet what I just have you and, close to tears, ended with, “I can no longer work with this client.” She looked me kindly in the eyes, straightened her spine and said, “We can no longer work with this client.” With that, she picked up the phone and resigned the account.
That was nearly 40 years ago. Today, it’s estimated that one in three women ~ and one in six men ~ will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime. The world needs more champions like Janet. May we all step up and be those champions.
