The worst thing that ever happened to me in my professional career didn’t have anything to do my job qualifications or my “Me Too” moment. And yes, I had one.

The worst thing that ever happened to me while working was when I got sicker than I ever have in the middle of a meeting with a vendor partner. We were finalizing pre-pro for a trip to Arizona to get some footage of The Royals for an ad campaign and my stomach started to do backwards hand-springs. We were half way through this meeting, I could surely last, I thought. Until I realized I couldn’t. I excused myself to use the restroom — planning to use the one at the front of this office space, but instead, I was directed to use the one on the other side of the wall from the meeting. This bathroom had no fan and no way to conceal noise or odor. But I didn’t have time to come up with a backup plan. Once I felt well enough to re-enter the meeting that I was supposed to be leading, I flushed the toilet. But the toilet wouldn’t flush. I was the sickest I’d ever been and the fucking toilet was broken. I spent the next 20 minutes praying that no one would get up to use the bathroom and think I just “left it that way.” No one did. But I couldn’t leave it at that. They would know I did it. I was the only person to use that bathroom in the hour we were all together. So, I did what any sane person would do. I text the studio manager and told her. “I’ll take care of it. I have kids. There’s nothing I haven’t seen.”

I have not heard from her since.