Chapter 32
THIRTY-TWO
“Can you believe she broke up with me because of that? I mean, I can’t be the only guy who has regifted a present.” Von dropped his freckled forehead onto the table.
“But Von, you regifted the present she got you for your birthday back to her!” I couldn’t stop laughing as I pictured the poor girl opening the same lava lamp she’d given Von one month prior. “Did you even change the wrapping paper?”
Von moaned without lifting his head while Imani rolled her eyes.
He’d begun the story of his latest relationship disaster right after we ordered, and our waiter was now clearing our entrees.
As per usual, Von spared no detail, and this was likely not the first or even second time Imani had heard the story.
The three of us were having lunch at a tiny West African restaurant equidistant from my apartment and the NuVoices office.
I’d been in the middle of editing my latest blog post, but they’d insisted on getting together right away.
Von had me cracking up since we sat down in the booth, and I was starting to wonder what the big emergency was.
“Von, you are totally burying the lede. This is not why we wanted to have lunch with Nikki today.” Imani’s singsongy tone promised juicy news.
“Ugh, I know. I just miss our Nikki so much.” Von lifted his head and briefly draped an arm around my shoulder. “But we do have some shit to talk about.”
Imani pursed her lips and bobbed her head while Von rubbed his palms together.
“Will one of you please tell me what’s going on?” I looked from Imani to Von and back. “Hellooo?”
“Girl…” Von and Imani spoke at the same time. I crossed my arms.
“Okay, I’ll go.” Imani dragged her chair closer and lowered her voice. “NuVoices is totally out of money. If we don’t find another major investor, the company may even have to file for bankruptcy.”
“What? I’m super confused. I thought NuVoices got back all the advertising dollars they lost last year. And, obviously, Bishopp never moved forward with the lawsuit.”
“Yeah, Barbara pulled the Reine campaign back in, and you know why Bishopp didn’t sue the company.
” Imani sighed as we both recalled the apology to Bishopp she’d been forced to run as Sugar’s interim EIC.
Imani had reached out before the issue had gone to print to explain that her son had just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and that, as a single mom, she couldn’t afford to lose her job and medical insurance.
I’d understood, but that didn’t ease the sting of seeing the retraction in the December issue, the same month that Bishopp appeared in Groove with his “real story.”
The only positive was that my frustration accelerated my desire to get my blog up and running.
I launched Nikki’s Notes that same month with the think piece on misogyny and sexual harassment in the music industry that I’d wanted to run in Sugar.
I wrote it myself, after cajoling Sondra to help me find female music executives, models, dancers, stylists, and even singers to share their stories on the record; and Derek had come through as promised to add an insightful legal perspective.
The ripple effect after I posted the article put my fledgling blog on the map.
CNN even interviewed me to talk about how women in entertainment are treated—which led to television appearances whenever I published notable blog pieces.
My audience was growing, and I was even starting to get some advertising dollars.
Imani covered my hand with hers. “Our Sugar girls didn’t like that retraction at all. We got tons of angry letters and subscription cancellations. Getting the ad dollars back didn’t matter because we lost so many readers.”
“Now you’re burying the lede, Imani,” Von broke in. He’d been drumming his fingers on the table and had obviously had enough. “The real reason that NuVoices might go bankrupt is the woman Barbara was sleeping with embezzled money from the company!”
I almost fell off my chair. “Are you serious? I don’t even understand.”
”Girl, it’s a crazy story,” Imani cut in.
“Barbara was hooking up with some wannabe who ran an ‘image development agency’ that was code for a few raggedy hairstylists and makeup artists. Long story short, Barbara hired her lover to work on shoots across all the NuVoices magazines, and this chick submitted fake invoices along with the real ones. We think she had an accomplice in accounting because no way would that much money go unnoticed for so long.”
“I know Barbara wasn’t in on it. She’s way too ferocious about that company. But how could she not see what was going on?”
“Pussy blindness,” Von replied with a knowing smirk as Imani elbowed him. He gave her a sidelong glance. “Well, you know it’s true!” Von faced me again. “Of course, the board is blaming Barbara, so…”
“… so they’re forcing her out of her own company,” I finished, as I saw how the whole thing must have played out.
“Apparently, she decided that she’s over publishing and wants to go into television.” Imani sipped her chai latte. “Last I heard, Barbara launched Porter Productions and is developing a reality TV show that pits men against women on a remote island or something.”
“Shit, I might actually watch that.” I laughed. “And how did you two figure all this out?”
“I know where all the bodies are buried at NuVoices,” Von whispered. “Remember, I was Barbara’s assistant before she moved me to Sugar. So, the board involved me when they figured out that the books didn’t balance. I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but no way was I not gonna tell you and Imani.”
“I am stunned,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest.
“I was too when I first heard. But it explains so many things,” Imani said.
“There was always a fire drill over NuVoices’ finances, even when we came in under our production budget.
Our newsstand numbers were way over projection, and we had incremental ad dollars that replaced Reine, at least at Sugar.
But I counted Bella and Decode’s ad pages and they were holding their own too. ”
“You counted their ad pages?” I interrupted, impressed.
“I sure did.” Imani gave a half shrug as both Von and I gaped at her. “As far as I could tell, we were exceeding the goals that the board and the investors set, so I could never figure out why we were always in so much financial trouble.”
“Tell her the rest,” Von urged Imani.
She drew in a long breath and sat back in her chair. There was a long pause, as evidently neither wanted to share the rest of the information.
“Guys?” I spoke into the tense silence.
Imani’s shoulders sagged. “Alonzo Griffin wants to buy NuVoices. He gave a presentation to the board and the investors about the potential economies of scale of producing Groove along with NuVoices’ titles.”
“He’s already submitted a bid and I overheard the head of the board say that they’re seriously considering it,” Von added. “And now we’re freaking out that we’ll all lose our jobs.”
“Von! That’s no longer Nikki’s problem.”
Von threw his hands in the air. “Yeah, okay. But we all know that if Alonzo buys NuVoices, he’s going to fire anyone he thinks was in Nikki’s camp first.”
My heart was beating so hard in my throat that I thought it must surely be visible.
I rubbed my hands on my thighs, then inspected my fingernails.
Anything to avoid looking up. As hard as I’d tried, I’d never stopped thinking about it as my magazine, and the Sugar readers as my community.
I had been getting at least ten emails a week asking why my name was no longer on the masthead, and I always wrote the same thing back: “Even though you don’t see my name, I am forever a Sugar girl in spirit. ”
Plus, Von was 100 percent correct: As the new owner of NuVoices, Alonzo would get rid of anyone he thought was still loyal to me right away.
And when he gutted the Sugar team, my former assistant and my former number two would be first on the chopping block.
I don’t know how much time passed as I reluctantly contemplated what Alonzo might do with the Sugar brand and my former team, both of which I still loved.
Then an idea started to form in my mind. “Von, do you have the contact number for the head of the NuVoices’ board?”
“I sure do.”
“Okay, give me a sec. I have a crazy idea.” I walked outside to get some fresh air and privacy.
As I paced the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, I made a call.
“Hey, Kiara. Remember when Ricky was telling us over dinner last month that he wanted to diversify his business? I may have a time-sensitive opportunity for him. Can I come by tonight?”
Barely one month later, Ricky Matsumoro had a majority stake in NuVoices.
I’d pulled every bit of data on NuVoices I could and then begged Imani to come with me to the Matsumoros’ house to help explain the strength of the current business.
After I talked about the important niches that Decode and Bella occupied and the fast-growing strength of the Sugar brand, Ricky saw the acquisition as the perfect extension of his VMAs after party—and a chance for Kiara to flex her PR and marketing muscles.
He’d reached out to NuVoices’ board the next day to put his name in the hat, reviewed the P&L and financial projections, and outbid Alonzo and Groove Media by almost half a million dollars within a week.
Ricky’s legal team negotiated the terms at top speed, and three weeks later, the documents were finalized.