Hey everyone,
Here is an excerpt from my new novel coming out this summer called,
Forward March.
Chapter One “Ms. Walker, you’ve done it! You scored the multimillion dollar account to do the advertising campaign for celebrity Christian artist and model Shay Praise and Pure Beauty Bars,” Josie Bartrand shrieked. “You’ve only been here for a little over a year and you have managed to win one of the most sought out new accounts in the advertising industry!”
“Well, Josie, it’s all in a day’s work. I knew I was cut out for this stuff,” Faith blushed. She had done her thing selling the folks over at Shay’s company and Pure Beauty, convincing them to go with Elite Advertising as their newest advertising firm. “But I couldn’t have done it without the entire team though. I may have come up with the ad concepts, but I definitely didn’t do the art work. Malik did his thing too, isn’t that right Malik?” she asked as he walked past the glass doors of her 30th floor office.
Since moving from Mississippi to San Francisco, Faith had made her mark in the advertising world. Many of the employees at Elite had heard about her achievements, but she didn’t want to rest on her previous accomplishments, she knew in order to move up in the ad world, she had to hit them with something big and this big deal was just that.
“If it ain’t the big-timer who got us the big deal,” Malik schmoozed. “I am just happy to be a part of your team Faith. I mean, I am just elated that we work together,” he laughed.
Faith and Malik had been cool since she landed in San Francisco. He had been the one to pick her up from the airport and take her around town to show her all the hot spots. As one of only a few African-Americans in the company, Elite made sure they sent someone they thought Faith could relate to. She was glad they had. There was nothing more irritating than being new and trying to get to know someone who wasn’t cool or acting stuffy. Being from Mississippi, the hospitality state, Faith knew when she saw Malik, everything would be a-ok!
“Whatever Malik! You know we couldn’t have landed this deal without your magic graphic fingers! We did this together… along with the rest of the team,” she said while clearing her throat and correcting her statement before someone took offense. She and Malik knew exactly who won the account with the African-American celebrity. It was them! The other people were simply on the project team.
As more people stopped by to congratulate Faith on a job well done, she realized that this career had been a great choice. While at Jackson State, she had often dreamed of landing a big time deal that would take her over the top, but she always knew she had to remain grounded, so after everyone left her office, she talked to the real man who had made this deal possible.
Lord, it’s me. I just want to thank you for this deal. I know that I couldn’t have done anything without you. I thank you for putting me with the right people like Malik and for making us successful. Lord, I thank…
Before she could finish her statement, Anastasia busted into her office.
“Faith, girl you did your thang huh. All that overtime with Malik really paid off. I thought you guys were just up here messing around during those late night hours.”
Controlling the pupils of her eyes that she absolutely wanted to roll, Faith swiveled her chair to meet Anastasia face to face.
“Hi Anastasia,” she acknowledged her presence with a dry tone. “Do you ever knock before just barging into people’s offices? I could have been on the phone or something.”
“You didn’t look like you were doing anything to me. You looked like you were sleeping. So you’re lucky I came in here before one of the manager’s stopped by and saw you slacking off already. Don’t think because you got that new deal they ‘re still not watching us.”
Other than Faith and Malik, Anastasia was the other lone African-American at the company. She was an administrative assistant and always seemed to speak negative every chance she could get. Faith wasn’t trying to hear anything negative today though. Not after landing one of the biggest deals to ever hit Elite.
“What’s up Ana? What is it that you want?”
Anastasia moved around to Faith’s side of the big contemporary espresso-colored desk and sat on the edge and crossed her legs. “Look, don’t be acting all brand new because you did something big. You are still black and they are still only going to let you go so far. You hear me Faith. Them people will only let you go so far before they cap your butt! Look at me. Shoot, I started as a temp and I haven’t gotten anything from them other than a permanent assistant job. Don’t you know I gots one of them fancy degrees too?”
Faith noticed her chest heave up and down as she breathed out a sigh. She wasn’t in the mood today to hear Anastasia’s, poor-black- woman-who-can’t- move- up- in- the- corporate- world, story. It was beginning to get old. Plus adding an ‘s’ to the word “got” made her sound like she didn’t have a degree.
“Ana, I appreciate you coming in to let me know that I still haven’t arrived yet. I will make sure I kick my A game up and be ready for whatever the corporate big wigs try to throw my way. Thank you, girl. You really do know how to keep a girl on her toes.”
“Oh you welcome Faith. You know I got your back. We’s got to stick together you know. That’s how they do. They stick together and get each other jobs and everything. By the way, I heard that Cynthia is considering hiring a junior account executive to assist you with the new account. Think you can put in a good word for ya girl?” Anastasia popped her gum and switched it from the left to the right while waiting on an answer. Faith didn’t know what to say. There was no way she was going to recommend her. What would that do to her reputation? Everybody knew that Anastasia was looking for a hand-out anytime a job came open, whether she qualified for the job or not. She just wanted a hook-up.
“Quick Faith, think of something to get out of this,” she said while frantically wracking her brain. Just as she was about to try to think of something, Cynthia walked in. “Thank you God because I know you didn’t want me to lie to that girl.”
“Hi Faith,” Cynthia said with a perky voice. Then she half-heartedly spoke to Anastasia, which Ana took as her cue to dip out of Faith’s office.
“Just wanted to come by and commend you again on a great job.” Faith noticed Anastasia still lurking by the door, making eye and hand gestures behind Cynthia as if to say with her eyes, “hook a sistah up.” Faith diverted her attention back to Cynthia just in time to nod and smile.
“So what are your plans to celebrate? We would love to take you out for drinks if you are down?” Faith hated when her managers tried to act like they were as young as she was. Cynthia was especially the worst one. She even went as far as trying to dress young with short skirts and tight suits. Cynthia was 55 years old, but unlike most women her age, she kept herself fairly well. Her short pixie hair cut complimented her tanned Caucasian skin and slim build. She wore the latest in designer suits and always smelled of Chanel. Jewelry was her vice. She had to wear something that clanked and banged. You could always hear her coming. It was her signature.
“Well, I was actually thinking about having a little something at my apartment tonight. You know I’m more of a homebody. You’re definitely welcome to come over.”
“Faith, why don’t you let Elite pick up the tab on your house partay. You order what you want from our preferred caterer and have them deliver it. I’ll have some wine delivered from our favorite winery and it’ll be a blast.”
“Well I hadn’t really…”
“Faith, really! Let me do this for you. You deserve so much for all your hard work. So it’s a done deal. Have Anastasia email you the catering menu since she normally handles all of the catering for our office. I’ll tell her what the plans are and she’ll handle everything for you.”
Faith hesitantly accepted. She really didn’t want to have a big shin-dig at her place, but since Elite was picking up the tab, may as well make the best of it. After Cynthia left, she sent Malik an email:
“GUESS WHAT? ELITE IS PICKING UP THE TAB FOR MY GET-TOGETHER AT THE APARTMENT. YOU KNOW IT’S ON FOR REAL NOW. WE GONE HAVE MORE THAN SODA POP. CYNTHIA SENDING THE WINERY OVER. LOL.”
Malik responded almost immediately: “OH THAT’S WHAT’S UP FA SHO. I KNOW I AM GOING TO GET MY BUZZ ON NOW (KIDDING). BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOUR BOY DON’T DRINK. BUT DO MAKE SURE YOU ORDER SOME GOOD FOOD AND NOT ANY OF THAT FOO-FOO MESS WE ALWAYS HAVE HERE AT THE OFFICE. GET SOME WINGS, MEATBALLS, EGG ROLLS, ROTEL DIP. LOL. JUST PLAYING. THEY PROBABLY DON’T EVEN HAVE ROTEL DIP ON THAT FOO-FOO CATERING MENU. LATA.
The next new message on Faith’s email was from Anastasia. “I ALREADY KNOW YOU GONE INVITE YOUR GIRL. CYNTHIA JUST GAVE ME MY PECKING ORDERS, SO JUST LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANT ME TO ORDER AND I WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN “BOSS LADY” LOL. JUST PLAYIN GIRL. DON’T FORGET TO HOOK A SISTAH UP.” Faith laughed. She had pegged Ana perfectly when she was gesturing earlier. She sent her an email back requesting the food and confirmed her attendance for the night time affiar. Just as she was about to close out of her email, a new email popped up. It was him.
End of Excerpt....Craving more...
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