Femme Fierce

We can file Nandini Sharma as the rare breed of women Vincent (unfortunately) hasn’t slept with despite his best efforts. The witty comment earned her a cheeky grin, raising up to his full height and straightening up his suit in the process. “I think it’s a little unfair to place all the blame one me, don’t you think? It’s not my fault you’re attracted to me like a magnet – with all of the space in this vast lobby and you still manage to find your way to me. I know you got a reputation to maintain, Nan, but it’s okay if you wanted to cop a feel.” A soft laugh followed the statement, appreciating how easily she could roll with banter. “Sleep is overrated and for lazy people.” He shrugged, the workaholic in him showing in that moment. “I could ask you the same question. Between work and the family, you might as well be Wonder Woman.”

His comment got a snicker from the woman, even if it was accompanied with another smack as if to discipline him. She was far too old to blush at perverse comments like she did in her twenties, and even loosened up since then enough to see the humor in the accusation. “ Again, if I wanted to, with you, I wouldn’t have to try as hard.” She teased back.With a deep sigh, she nodded for him to follow her, expecting him to be on her heel as she made her way tot he cooler, still badly needing that water. After resting her papers on the top, Nandini found herself laughing softly once again. “ It’s also for human beings, unless you’re some kind of alien that doesn’t need it like the rest of us?” She paused, taking sips and sighing as the soothed and cooled her. “Wonder Woman? Is that what they call single mothers these days? Women have been doing this for decades, only when I was younger it was seen as something to be ashamed of. I’ll take being praised for it of that any day, but I can’t act as though I’m the only one. “ She humbly insisted. It wasn’t by choice that her life turned out this way, but never having been a quitter, Nandini was determined to make it the best life possible for not only her, but her children. Any mother with a heart would do the same. “But you’re one to talk,” She began  after he cup was empty.” From what I hear you barely leave your office unless the house is burning down. Is that your secret -- That you’re Superman? I see it now... I’m onto you.”

Steven knew just about as much about interacting with those around him as scientists knew about playing sports. That was, the assumption and general notion that they didn’t do such things, preferring academics. Steven? He preferred the ideal of hiding within the spine of a book rather than a fully-fledged conversation. Somehow, it kept certain pivotal moments of his life at bay. Nevertheless, it was the reason he got into trouble that morning. Cup of tea spilled all down his front as he grabbed napkins to hand to the person he’d stupidly collided with. “Sorry ‘bout that–” Brogue tone broke from the Brit, as he reached for more from the nearby cafe cart, handing it to the person. “I feel like a bloody prick is your–” He bit his tongue. “Don’t tell me you’ve somewhere important to be right now with tea all over you.”

She had always thought she would be a cool mom, the kind who could hand out with her kids and their friends and have the 'cool house' that all the kids would want to hang out in, And she tried, having a huge television that was more like a movie screen and all the games a kid could want in spite of her parents warning that it was no good and would spoil the children. Maybe they were right, as all gadgets in the world could seem to keep her son home and out of trouble. As she held the phone to her ear saying the words  she never thought she'd say, "Well I don't care if they dared you! If they dared you to jump off a cliff, would you?" She felt the obstacle, walking into someone and staggering back in shock. She had to start paying more attention, she thought, as she ended the call with a " We're not done here, young man." and focused on the man. " It's just as much my fault as it is yours -- teenagers can be more of a distraction than you'd think." She tried to joke as her excuse for not avoiding the collision herself.  Accepting the napkins, a bit of his beverage was staining the poorly chosen white blouse she wore, making her sigh softly at the thought of the stain not coming out. " Unfortunately..." She began, but was quick to brush off the man's guilt and worry as she dried herself off." It's fine, really.  My office isn't far from here and I've leaned after three children to always have a spare change of clothing laying around in case of emergency."

Melanie grimaced a little at the other woman’s words, standing up as she spoke. She chuckled then, at the pseudo compliment. “It’s fine, really. You don’t have to apologise. My fault for standing in the middle of a walkway, I suppose,” Melanie told her drily, lifting a shoulder in a light shrug. Her brow furrowed slightly then. “The weather? Do you not do well in the heat?” She questioned, curious though not thinking whether the words would be rude or not. She chuckled a little, shaking her had. 

“Oh, I’m sure you’re not that bad,” Melanie mused, smiling softly at her, shaking her head. An eyebrow rose then and she had to laugh. A hand came up to wave off the other woman’s words and worries. “You didn’t injure me at all, don’t worry. It takes more then a little bump to throw me off. Besides, I think your files took the brunt of injuries,” Melanie told her with a grin, a hand gesturing to the file and papers that had been scattered only moments before. 

“I was coming, thankfully. You still need that water?” She asked, head tilting slightly as she peered over at the water cooler. “What brings you to Katalyst, by the way? If you don’t mind me asking.”

"How about we agree that we were both a little at fault so we don't feel as bad?" Nandini suggested with a laugh.  Once her papers were all in a neat stack again, she looked back tot he woman. " I used to do just fine in the heat -- in temperatures far worse than this." She admitted with another chuckle. " I blame my kids -- I have American children, the air conditioner is on in the house all the time. It went from me having to wear a shawl around the house to not being able to last in the sun for five minutes without wondering why the AC isn't on." She shook her head,amused by how things could change so drastically. " I only pray it's that and not a fever. Kids bring home all sorts of things from school." 

Over groaning about the tribulations of being a mother, Nadnini, after  hearing that the woman had no complaints, breathed a small sigh of relief. Too many people in L.A. were eager to jump down people's throats for the simplest things that she grew up learning to let go and overlook. "I do, actually." She chuckled, her feet turning in the right director and heading towards it hoping Melanie was in tow. " I need to be more green." She noted. Carry one of those refillable bottles with me. " Small talk took a pause as Nandini grabbed herself a paper cone and filled it till it was almost spilling, but was still aware of herself as she took graceful sips rather than chug the whole thing. When finished, she was hydrated enough to answer the woman's question. " The changing of the guard." She smiled. " A client is...unhappy with her current team and deman-requested a new one. I'm meant to be meeting with the COO to discuss terms."

Despite his life being a series of meetings, both in-person and on the phone, Vincent never liked to complain. He thrived off of the chaos that usually came with his job, especially when they resulted in big screen wins. With another movie wrapped and about to premiere, he was down at Katalyst to get the rundown from his publicist for the upcoming press tour he’d be apart of as an Executive Producer on the project. Walking into the building, he was engrossed in his emails, looking over the next day’s call sheet and making sure everything was in-line for another movie that was currently shooting. Not paying attention, he didn’t see Nandini as she bumps into him, which was the only thing that tore his attention away from the device in hand. “Shit.” He muttered, stuffing his phone into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and bending down to help Nandini. “Nan, we’ve discussed this, if you want my attention all you have to do is call me.” Vince cheekily replied offering a hand to help her up. “You alright?”

When he bent down with her, Nandini got a look at the now-familiar face and offered a smile in gratitude,though without looking it would have been easy to figure out, as few-to-no one called her ‘Nan’. “Darling we both know that it’s not hard for a pretty face to get your attention.”Nandini teased as she gathered her things and rose before taking the extras from his hands.”Thank you, and I’m fine. Although I do think it’s partially your fault that I was so careless -- had you not been so adamant about being the same as a brick wall I wouldn’t have been so clumsy. I’m sure I’m bruising somewhere.” With a laugh, Nandini knew he’d be no more offended than she would by his accusation of wanting his attention, teasing having become a regular part of their interactions.Vince’s charm rivaled her own, no stranger to his reputation and far too old to be flustered by it like younger girls always were. “Here on business, I assume? Do you even sleep anymore, Vincent?”

It had been a fairly busy day for Melanie and she was glad when she’d finally made it back into the office. She was focused on her phone, typing out a text message when she felt someone bump into her. It wasn’t hard or malicious but an eyebrow arched when she saw some papers fall to the floor beside her. 

The other person started to speak and Melanie realised she recognised the voice, lips settling on a small grin. “That’s fine, really,” Melanie replied, squatting down to help the other woman pick up her fallen papers. She chuckled a little at her words. “Besides, this is probably better then spilling liquid over them. Even a folder couldn’t completely save them from that,” Melanie continued, smirking over at the woman. 

“Let’s just be glad it was only the floor they fell onto.”

There was a sigh,though not directed at the other woman, more so at general frustration Nandini felt in the heat, but if she knew hoe to do anything it was how to force a smile and fake the face so no one ever know how actually irritated she was. “ I shudder to think what other things they could have fallen into.” The older woman joked as with papers once again in hand,she rose and let out a breath. “I didn’t even see you, which I imagine is hard for anyone, lovely as you are.I think it’s the weather making me delusional; I was on my way to the water cooler and I must have imagined it to be an oasis in the middle of a desert and stopped paying attention.” 

With a few more gentle laughs and pleasantries out of the way, Nandini brushed her hair over her shoulder and began to put her pages back in a neat stack. “ You know the saying’ I’d lose my head if it wasn’t attached’?I’ve never felt more represented.” She laughed again. It wasn’t that she was unorganized or absentminded usually, but with all the new work in her lap, Nandini was still learning how to balance being a mother and a businesswoman at the wheel of such a large ship all the while managing to at least take some time for herself. “I do apologize for not looking where I was going though ;I hope it didn’t injure you too badly.” She playfully teased.”Were you coming or going?”

“Of course. Hi,my name is Nandini Sharma, I’m forty-three years old, a former model, actress,and dancer and the current COO of __.I use feminine pronouns and as strange as it sounds, people often compare me to Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan.”

II. It’s great to meet you. So you have to know that everyone’s been curious about you, why don’t we start with where you’re from? Tell us where you grew up and what your childhood and family were like.

"Oh, well, I was born in Mumbai, but that was only because my mother needed a C-section and was carried to a large hospital after she passed her due date. She loved to say that I was a diva since in the womb. Anyway, not long after that I was brought back to my village, it wasn’t the small type or rural place you’d see on television, but it wasn’t the big city, either. But it was home. We lead a simple life there and I was very happy playing among the nature out there. You know, fields, cows, goats... “

III. Well, they say our upbringing molds who we become. I’m sure that you got your reputation for being humble, hardworking,  active/ dramatic, impressionable, demanding from that.

IV. And what about that lead you to your current career? How did that impact you enough to want to do what you do now?

" It was luck, honestly. I think from a very young age people realized that I wasn’t like the other girls around, who played, did chores, went to school, and were all accepting of their future to become a wife and mother. I was always told I was pretty, and I suppose it got to my head a bit, because I was only about fifteen when I told my mother I wanted to be a model. I always saw magazines on stands with such pretty women on them and thought ‘ well I can do that too’. Of course, it didn’t have the same stigma that it used to, but my mother still was very much against the idea. I think she didn’t want to send me to the city and see me get hurt or lose the values and virtues she had given me, but I was adamant and eventually took it upon myself to try to run away to Mumbai and become one. I cam home not even a day later but she realized that keeping an eye on me was better than me going out there by myself, so she allowed me to  start modeling small time so long as I put my studies first.”

V. That’s awesome. I’m sure our readers will love to hear that. So you knew you had a calling, what came next? How did you get yourself to Hollywood? What was your first job?

“Oh well Hollywood came much, much later. It wasn’t even until I reached nineteen that I got to New York. Modeling in India is very different than modeling internationally, but someone saw my face and decided they liked it and gave my then agent a call. It was a huge deal for me, of course, as I’d been modeling creams and things but not much clothes. Fashion was the big league and I wasn’t going to turn that down. After an international campaign, even though I was just one of three models in it, I got a call to see if I wanted to be in a film -- and Indian film, which you’d call a Bollywood, but I was excited. Like most girls where I come from, I’d learned some traditional dance so that finally came in handy, and one film turned into two and so on before the calls kept coming in and one of them just happened to be from an American director. I think I was twenty-two at the time. but it seems like a lifetime ago now.”

VI. Of course, but we all know there’s a sea of faces out here trying to get famous as well, right? It must have been hard, the first few rejections or being told something wasn’t good enough. What was the most difficult thing you faced on your journey?

“Oh God, I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I never got rejected. At least not when modeling. I was charmed that way, always being chosen for things. I think the one time I was rejected came from a role I actively sought that I didn’t look the part for -- I think you can guess what that means. But I didn’t let it set me back. I think the hardest part came not from my career, but my personal life. I was still young, barely twenty-five when I met my husband and fell madly in love as one often would. But in spite of my family supporting me in everything else, they were still were still very traditional and my beloved wasn’t Indian. It caused a rift between myself and my parents and was heavily criticized by the media back home and highly covered here, but we were in love and I was willing to give up everything for him because I believed that my parents would come around. It was very hard being at odds with my family, and even when my first child came things still hadn’t been reconciled. I felt so alone; I think that was my darkest time. It even effected my work. Of course my divorce and the public embarrassment I faced wasn’t great either, but I still have my children to keep me from being lonely and being at good terms with my parents again makes up for it.”

VII. So then what was the moment that you realized you made it? Or are you still waiting for that moment?

" Made it... That’s subjective in a way, isn’t it? Everyone has a different opinion on that, don’t they? For me, I made it when I began getting calls from top designers to model their clothes on a runway, but I was twenty years old and had a lot of life to go through still. I’ve never won and Oscar or anything but I think the height of my career was around the time of my second or third Hollywood film. Of course getting pregnant slowed down my acting career and that in turn made me less spoken about. Not that I regret it, of course, because I would trade nothing for my children. But am I going to be on the cover of a gossip magazine again?  God I hope not. I like being moderately spoken about now and living my life in peace. (4)

VIII. It’s amazing when you make it far enough in this town when so many people end up giving up and going home, isn’t it? So now that you’re here, what’s next for you?

"It is, and I’m thankful for every moment I lived, but I’m much too happy where I am now to go backwards. I know that it was at the cost of a messy divorce, but in spite of the fact that I have to see the man who cheated on me too often, I like that I can sleep eight or nine hours every night and that I get to spend lots of time with my children. I can’t even imagine working eighteen hours on a  a set and getting three hours of sleep before having to do it all again and missing out on my children’s lives. No, I like where I’m at now. Love it, in fact. In the future the only thing I want to do is help this company grow if only so that I can leave something behind for my kids and maybe help a few people’s dreams come true in the process. I had my time.”

IX.  Now we know it’s personal but we have to ask,  do you have any comment about the rumors going around about you?

"Oh God, haha, of course. I think I’ve just taken care of myself and my skin over the years and people can’t find it in them to believe that I’ve just aged well. Honestly, saying I’ve had work done is just outlandish. I have not had cosmetic surgery of any kind ”

X. Thank you so much for talking to us today. Lastly, is there anything you want our readers to know about you?