Let’s talk about Anuja Weeranarayana.
Anuja was introduced to me by a longtime friend of mine here in Manila as a potential brand sponsor for a travel series I had been developing. I shared with Anuja our promotional trailer and pitch document – and the strength of my relationships among peers working at the regional factual networks. After wrapping up that presentation she subsequently led me to believe that this series was just exactly what Piaggio Asia-Pacific needed to help market their products here in the region.
As the Marketing Manager for Asia-Pacific I assumed that I could trust her own editorial judgement for her brand. And believing that my treatment had her approval, I began putting Anuja in-touch with senior contacts of mine among the regional factual channels. She came across as encouraging and enthusiastic and gave me every reason to believe that if the services and prices among the regionals made sense, we would eventually be away together with this travel series.
Then things took a sharp turn last week for the worse.
We had an upcoming call lined up for the week of March 26th with one of the regional networks but on the Friday of March 23rd I received an E-Mail from Anuja asking me to wait before ‘integrating’ any further in this upcoming call (one that would have never happened without me)
I immediately knew something was wrong.
And then, just before the COB that Friday, while in the middle of attending to a family medical emergency, Anuja sent an E-Mail informing me that proposal did not work for Piaggio and that they were going to take a pass.
Now, I am perfectly fine with Anuja and Piaggio Asia-Pacific not taking forward my travel series proposal. This is not unusual, I have had countless pitches and proposals turned down over the years for a wide range of reasons, I am at peace with this part of my work.
But I learned there was much more to this story.
Not only had my proposal been rejected but she revealed that she was having separate discussions with these channel executives – and now that she was already in-touch with them thanks to my introductions, very conveniently my services were no longer needed.
I was devastated.
Predators come in all shapes, sizes – and yes, genders too. Anuja obviously is not a sexual super predator like Harvey Weinstein. No, she is a much more common garden variety, a corporate predator. The kind of sociopathic ladder climber we all encounter at one point or another in our lives. The kind of predator absolutely happy to use the people around them and then toss them aside when they have what they really want.
Anuja Weeranarayana is that kind of predator – and like all predators, she probably has counted on fear and shame to silence her victims as she continued her ascent up the corporate ladder.
But I have never believed in keeping quiet out of fear and shame. That gives abusers the essential darkness they need to carry on and thrive.
And if speaking up like this makes some people uncomfortable to associate or work with me, then I do not want to work with them. They are exactly the kind of people that enable the Harvey’s and Anuja’s of our world to get away with their misdeeds.
It is now far too late for me, Anuja got what she wanted from me and has already moved on. But perhaps this will serve as a warning to the next person that encounters Anuja (or people like her) in their lives and work, and give them the due caution that I did not have when dealing with her.
