Natural Woman

Part of my job is reaching out to celebrities for whatever this place needs. I was asked to find out if Aretha Franklin was available for an event we were hosting. I contacted the publicist I had on file and the publicist decided to forward my contact information to Ms. Franklin (without my knowledge), to where I received an email:

HELLO TAMMY ,RECIEVED YOUR MEMO FROM MY PUBLICIST!! YES I WILL BE IN NY [DATE] IN PREFORMANCE. WILL BE STAYING AT THE [HOTEL] OR [OTHER HOTEL]. ALL THE BEST

ARETHA [PHONE NUMBER] OR [OTHER PHONE NUMBER] FAX [HOTEL] UNTIL [DATE]

The next thing I know, I'm emailing with The Queen of Soul. Now, this job is fun and very cool, but it's not as glamourous as you think because I got in a lot of trouble from my boss' boss for emailing with Ms. Franklin. My direct boss wasn't in the office so I was handling it by myself, but no one understood why Ms. Franklin and I were emailing back and forth. I explained that I tried to pass off the emails or put an end to them, but She kept asking me questions and being chatty. At one point, I stopped and came to a realization: "I am emailing with Aretha Franklin."

Push came to shove and Aretha and This Place didn't work out, but you bet I have those email exchanges where we talk about vintage perfume saved on my desktop.