Havilah Opens Up About Her Boss Amanda

I admire Amanda for building a woman-owned small business. I was thrilled to be part of an environment where I could use my skills to change people's lives. I felt like it was a great opportunity to build on the organizational skills I already had and help people at the same time.

Being from Louisiana and living through Hurricane Katrina really drove home for me how much more important people and relationships are than things. Things are here today, gone tomorrow. I grew up in a household with parents who were very organized. Whether it was in business matters or running a household, the processes they put in place were efficient and effective. As a flight attendant and business owner, my mom made taking care of everything look effortless. Whether it was packing all the essentials for her trip or working with clients in her custom clothing studio, everything had a place. With such great influences, my love of organization began at an early age.

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work with managers who were stellar professionals willing to consider feedback and the perspective of their team members, who put team growth first and worked toward achieving collective goals...

Amandas have a unique privilege of transforming and empowering the lives of other people every day.  Running your own business can be stressful, but you are only good as your team. I work hard and want Amanda to succeed—but imagine being being the subject of Amanda's attempt to undermine and control. Amanda would choose to accuse me of not pulling my weight when that was entirely not true. There's always more to a story than what meets the eye!

My clothes were gossiped about, and I was taken, under false pretenses, on a shopping trip to "help" me. Amanda expects us to wear dress clothes and heels as she does. According to Amanda, wearing hosiery (as I was) is considered the worst thing a woman can do.

On projects, I enjoy working closely with our contractor Paul, attending to the building and installation of organizational systems for the clients' homes. Paul is one of those people you just appreciate having around, and he's a pretty good dancer too! We work very hard and at times are tasked with seemingly impossible feats, through tight timelines on little to no sleep, but we get it done. Working under these conditions can be stressful enough, but add to it being commanded around and spoken to in a demeaning way? That will never sit well with me. I'm the kind of person who loves to laugh, but I am certainly no pushover.

On the Kalifeh project, the personality conflicts between Amanda and me finally came to a head, and her tactics were becoming more apparent. I shared with her that it's best to lead by example and that it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

I was sent home.

I have been asked why I came back, knowing how Amanda was behaving toward me. Plain and simple, I'm not a quitter. I realized this would be a platform for young women in the workplace who come face-to-face with people or bosses who want to break their spirit. I chose to deal with this and face it head-on. If you run away from your problems, they continue to reappear later on in your life until you resolve them.

The Amandas airs Wednesdays at 11/10c, only on Style.