Rice and Famous
In 2000, I worked for an international VIP limousine service. It was there I encountered Linda Johnson-Rice, the current president and CEO of Johnson Publishing (they produce Ebony and JET magazines, among other things). She was a regular client -- had a couple of favorite drivers and everything. She was an absolute peach to do business with.
There's an anecdote to tell, actually; she was worried one Saturday about a friend of hers who was coming in from New York, and she couldn't spare the time to be there with the car to pick him up, so she kept calling whenever the flight was delayed a few minutes. Oh, she was so worried; it was kind of adorable. I made a point of calling her when the driver told me the passenger was in tow, and audible relief came over the phone. Now, as it happened, I was very excited about seeing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was showing in Chicago for the first time that weekend, and I aimed to go. For some reason, though, there wasn't a newspaper in the building, and my typically amazing web-browsing skills failed to uncover a theatre that was showing the movie. So, audible relief on the phone and no options left me, I said to her, "since I've got you..." She dug up her paper, found the showtime for me, and said, "Oh, yeah; I've heard of that movie. Roger Ebert told me it's really good."
And that is how one of the richest women in the world once looked up a movie in a newspaper for me.
There's an anecdote to tell, actually; she was worried one Saturday about a friend of hers who was coming in from New York, and she couldn't spare the time to be there with the car to pick him up, so she kept calling whenever the flight was delayed a few minutes. Oh, she was so worried; it was kind of adorable. I made a point of calling her when the driver told me the passenger was in tow, and audible relief came over the phone. Now, as it happened, I was very excited about seeing Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was showing in Chicago for the first time that weekend, and I aimed to go. For some reason, though, there wasn't a newspaper in the building, and my typically amazing web-browsing skills failed to uncover a theatre that was showing the movie. So, audible relief on the phone and no options left me, I said to her, "since I've got you..." She dug up her paper, found the showtime for me, and said, "Oh, yeah; I've heard of that movie. Roger Ebert told me it's really good."
And that is how one of the richest women in the world once looked up a movie in a newspaper for me.