…I was about 14 when I decided that I was never going to get married. I was never going to give my mother, my aunties, my grandmother that satisfaction to take pride over the fact that all they have been training me for - since I was barely old enough to be trained - would finally be useful. I would never submit myself to a life where I was to serve a man, change for a man, endure for a man because even before I knew who that man was to be, I was living for him.

It might seem petty, but one of my greatest joys as a 32 year old woman is not my successful career, not the fact that I was listed in the top 30 under 30, 5 years in a row, not the fact that my calendar for the year is always booked by january 1st, none of that measures up to the joy I feel when I think about the fact that I never have to come home, after a long day of work and begin a second job of caring for an overgrown child of a husband.

She saves the document on her laptop before cracking her fingers and rolling her neck round, trying to rid it of the stiffness. “Jada!!!!” she shouted, her voice bouncing off the four walls of her office.

“Ma’am?” Jada said poking her head into the office

“Tell William to bring the car around in 30 minutes. Also, take out one of the ziploc bags in the fruit compartment and make me a smoothie. I’m already behind schedule”

“Yes ma” she replied, hurrying off.

She grabbed her bag, powering down the room's appliances, and made her way to the bedroom. After turning on her sound system, she connected her phone, kicked off her morning playlist, and began her routine:
20 squats
20 push-ups
2 minutes of plank
100 skips
200 jumping jacks
Undress
Shower
Skincare
Dress

“What does my day look like?” she asked,collecting the smoothie from Jada as she descended the stairs

“You have an interview in 45 minutes, William has the address, I sent a list of questions they might ask to your mail. You have another tv appearance an hour  after that ends, a practical show, you’re expected to make any beef based recipie, I need to know what you’d like to cook so I can send over an ingredient list and they can get everything before you arrive, finally, you also have a private client requesting your services for the evening”

“How far away is the address of the third place from the restaurant?”

“Umm, about 45 minutes without traffic” she said tapping away at the tablet

“Okay, confirm that and give William the address. Get my drycleaning before I get back and have Hannah come and do the cleaning”

“Yes ma. Have a nice day” she says handing her her bag

“Good morning ma’am” William said, holding open the door.

“Good morning William. I hear we have a long day ahead” she answers sliding in. He shut the door after her, moving to his seat. Soft jazz filled the car in a volume low enough for her to concentrate on the things Jada had sent over yet high enough to be enjoyed. Interviews had become a common thing since she opened her restaurant last year and they became even more frequent when she got exposed as the face behind ‘I do not’, her blog on why she would never say ‘I do’.

“We’re here boss” William says, making eye contact through the hangy mirror. A short lady was by her side immediately as she stepped out of the car. “Miss Jaziri, it’s very nice to meet you, you’re due on air in 73 seconds” she rattled off, mirroring her steps as they walked inside. A mic was clipped onto her blazer, a brush ran through her hair and light powder and lipgloss were applied to her person immediately she stepped through the door.

“...Joining us in the studio today Alethea Jaziri, writer of the ‘I do not’ podcast, owner of Jaziri Caribbean Culinaire and high rated celebrity chef. Join me as we welcome miss Jaziri to the show” she stands as the in studio audience begins to applaud alongside her as Alethea walked onto the stage, smile on her face, waving at the audience as she went on. The two women shared a hug before taking their seats.

“It’s so nice to have you on the show Miss Jaziri” the host says ass they seat

“Oh please. I’m so flattered to have been invited on your show, thank you for having me Ayeshah. I’m a huge fan and please call me Alethea”

“I think I’m hallucinating ‘cause I think you just said you were a fan of me” they laughed in sync

“I am, but I’m holding in my inner fangirl till after the interview” she giggled in response

“I’ll try to hold mine too then. Jaziri Caribbean Culinaire, tell us, what inspired the decision?”

“Well…” she started, uncrossing her legs then crossing them back in the other direction “... I was practically raised in the kitchen, I’d wake up early with my mother as she prepared breakfast for the family and be there after school to assist for lunch and there again to help to prepare dinner. I disliked many things about the way I was raised but I couldn’t deny the fact that I loved to cook. It is both an art and a science. The fact that you can use the same ingredients in different methods to create a whole buffet of options amazed me. Whether you change the method of cooking, the method of processing, the quantity of each of the ingredients, you can get different outcomes each time. Cooking amazes me and I love everything about it.”

“I hope our viewers can see the spark in your eyes right now” Ayesha interjected, getting a chuckle from the audience and Alethea

“The idea or Jaziri Caribbean Culinaire or JCC had always been in my mind, but when I was younger it was Alethea Avenue” cue laughter “I loved cooking for people, watching their eyes light up as the flavours melted in their mouths, the range of emotions that cross their faces as they savour that first bite. The feeling of satisfaction after the meal. Eating should be for pleasure as much as it is for sustenance. My restaurant is a relationship. A relationship between my clients and myself. They trust me to prepare and serve them food that would satisfy them in every meaning of the world and I trust them to enjoy it and well… pay. ” she punctuates her sentence with a chuckle before reaching for the water on the table.

“That was beautifully said Alethea and as someone who has dined in your restaurant and at one of your private events, I can assure you and the viewers that the trust has never been broken. You said something about relationships, the public recently found out that you are the owner and sole author behind the controversial blog ‘I do not’ where you share your views about marriage and the imbalance between what is expected of husbands and wives. Was the initial intention to keep your identity private as a result of you not wanting to firmly stand behind the points you make?”

“I have no issue standing behind every single point I have made on my blog. I can't give you a definite answer as to why I didn’t put my name on it to begin with, but I don't have a problem now that it’s out. When I started this blog, my intention was to vent a life long build up of frustration but when I started to hear the stories of what other women have had to go through, what they’ve been forced to endure, it gave me another purpose”

“You're truly inspiring Alethea. There are as many hate comments as there are positive comments under your blog posts. Some people call you a man hater, what do you say to that?”

“I do not hate men, I love my father, my brothers, and in fact, a number of my friends are men. What I do hate is the standard that society holds men and even young boys when it comes to marriage, to commitment. Women are trained to be wives to be mothers from inconceivably young ages, while our boys are indulged which leads to our men being indulged which leads to the husbands being indulged and all the bad habits emanate from there. The women who have suffered to become perfect caretakers suffer because of these indulged husbands, that’s what I hate. Any man that says I hate men are exactly the men that my blog targets, those who abuse women, who cheat on women, those who refuse to give the exact things that they demand and I refuse to acknowledge comments from men like that.”

“As much as I hate to do this, that’s all the time we have for this segment. It has been wonderful to have you here Alethea, I hope you join us another time.”