A Dream Deferred: Apologies and Lessons Learned
I went on a rant the other day about how messed up the journalism business is. What triggered the rant was an incident where a list of fly nail artists on Instagram that I pitched to VIBE Vixen was never posted. Instead, a similar list was posted written by someone else and with different artists. I was hurt because I have had nothing but positive experiences with that particular editor and then irritated because I’m already at a breaking point in my career, particularly because of the negative experience I’ve had with people so, I went off. I needed to write it out in order to let it go.
My husband suggested that it my be an oversight. I wanted to hold on to that because of my experience with that editor but I’m traumatized (I’m seriously dealing with work PTSD) and cynical so I thought the worst. As it turned out, the situation was an oversight. Said editor reached out to me, explained what happened and apologized, which I really appreciated. I have never ever received an apology from anyone (in my industry) who should have apologized so this was monumental. Not only did it show me that this editor is who I thought I knew but it emphasized that I should really try to lighten up.
I’m emotional, obviously, so if I want to rant then I’m going to but even in a sea of mercury, it’s possible to find some oxygen. I’m not sure how much less cynical I can be but I’ll try. The other positive thing that came from this experience is that I’m going to pitch less. For years I was so caught up with pitching and landing gigs with other companies but stifling my voice, because my expectations for media are different from what said companies expect. So, I should write more on my own platforms. And that’s that, for now.
I’m still a work in progress and still figuring this ish out.
Category: Reflections