‘It is so hard': Grim reason CEO is getting trolled

News.com.au

3 days ago

A successful CEO has shared the horrendous response she got from men after she posted a video of herself crying.
Aimee Smale, 27, is the founder of the UK fashion brand Odd Muse. The incredibly successful brand, established in 2020, has gone from strength to strength.
The 27-year-old recently found herself at the bottom of an internet pile-on because of her brand when a debate erupted on whether Odd Muse could be considered fast or slow fashion.
The conversation ended with the CEO being viciously trolled online, and in response, she posted a video of herself crying.
Ms Smale has over 200,000 followers on TikTok alone, and she shared that she was feeling 'heartbroken today' and was taking the backlash to heart.
'I can't lie the abuse I'm receiving is overwhelming. I shouldn't look but it is hard when the accusations are so wild and untrue,' she said.
The clip went viral, and she deleted it, but it was too late because, bizarrely, some online discourse erupted, primarily from men claiming her display of emotion meant she shouldn't be running a company.
'Grow up and be professional,' one advised.
'No one looks good crying,' another said.
'Toughen up princess. Life is hard, and you've just shown this woman that you can't take the heat,' someone else said.
'I'm not sure you're right for the cutthroat business world if you're immediate response to criticism is to start crying for attention on the internet,' one said.
'This is why the most successful business moguls are men. They don't cry, and definitely don't make a video crying and playing victim,' another said.
Someone else said she was a 'stupid woman', and another claimed that being a businesswoman means you can't film yourself crying.
Ms Smale then took to social media again and blasted the men commenting such sexist things and argued that any man saying her crying is an example of why 'women shouldn't run companies' likely has no idea what it is like to do AU$63 million in sales.
That video was met with an outpouring of support from women who were quick to point out showing emotion doesn't mean you can't do your job.
'They hate to see a girl boss win because they know they never could,' one wrote.
'We will cry when we want and we will succeed when we want,' someone else cheered.
'You're building empires while they're building paragraphs in the comments section. Nothing rattles fragile egos like a woman doing better than they ever will,' another argued.
Someone else theorised, 'Men can't stand to see a woman more successful than they'll ever be.'
'We're literally human. It's so crazy. We're meant to cry for a reason. Why are you holding it in?' one asked.
'I don't know why people think bosses don't cry? CEO's cry. People cry,' someone reasoned.