"What's on the agenda for today, babe?" I ask Rye as I set myself up at my desk. He takes a seat in one of the empty available chairs to go over things with me. The fan in my computer whirls to life when I power it on.

"You've got a meeting today, don't look at me like that, this is a good meeting. Not one with someone attempting to strike a deal to take over your company. It's with a model who reached out to us. Her name is Tasha. She sent us over her portfolio with a letter asking for an opportunity to be interviewed. When I talked to her on the phone to set up this interview she was telling me how difficult it's been for her to get jobs. Either they want to make her straighten her hair, think she's too dark for their look, or not slim enough. It seems ridiculous she has to go through all this crap in this day and age. I brought her portfolio for you to look through. The shots are amazing and I think she's exactly what you've been looking for." He passes me a thick manilla envelope. Opening it up, I slide out the relatively thick stack of photos. She's given us face shots, full-body, glam, natural, indoor shoots, and outdoor. Anything I could want to see is here.

"Her portfolio is impressive. You're right, she's exactly what I've been looking for. She couldn't have found us at a better time. What time is she going to get here?" He looks down at his watch.

"In half an hour." He looks back up at me as he answers. "She's your first and only meeting of the day. The rest of the day I freed up for you to spend in the lab."

"Yay!" I cheer in my seat happily. "I can't wait to get down there. It's been too long since I've been able to get my hands dirty and mess around down there."

Rye looks through some of Tasha's photos with me and points out a few of his favorites. She looks amazing with or without her makeup on. What I also love about these photos is that she wears her hair naturally. Sometimes the kinky curls are worn down and in others, they are styled up in elegant or fun looks. If she wants to join the team I'd love to have her. Especially with use trying to release a new hair product line. She would be absolutely perfect for that.

"Devin is going to stop by today too. I'm going to give him a little tour of the building and then I'll take him to the lab with me." I clean up all the photos sprawled out on my desk and slip them back into their envelope. She'll be here any moment now and I don't want my office to look like a mess.

"You guys have an office date planned. How cute." Rye coos as he grabs my empty coffee cup off my desk.

"Oh stop it, I'm just a proud momma who wants to show off her baby. Besides, after our chat this weekend my head is back in the right place."

"And where would that be?"

"That we are two friends who are getting to know each other all over again. Our relationship is made a little complicated because of our past but all of the feelings are from the old me for the old him. I know that now. This is a new version of Devin and I'm sure he's seeing a new version of me." He stares me down accusingly with his free hand resting on his cocked him. "What?" I ask exasperated.

"Sweetie, are you sure that all these feelings are old? Could some of them be new feelings for the new Devin you've been getting to know." Rolling my eyes, I take a seat in my chair. I've got to try to get through some of these emails before Tasha gets here.

"I'm sure. Like I've mentioned I don't really know this Devin. We've barely spent any time together except for this weekend. I don't know him well enough to have a crush on him and it's been years since we were last together. The only explanation is that my heart was still a little stuck in the past but I'm good now." I say with what I hope is a reassuring smile.

Rye doesn't look like he believes me but he leaves my office to go wait for Tasha to get here. Letting out a sigh, I start going through the couple of hundred emails I now have in my inbox. This is what happens when I take days off but it was worth it. I'm feeling rejuvenated after my weekend off.

As I'm clicking around to move some emails to my junk file there's a knock at my door. Rye gestures for Tasha to walk past him and enter my office. He closes the door behind him and I get up from my chair with my hand outstretched.

"It's nice to meet you, Tasha. My name is Scarlett. Thank you for meeting with me." She's dressed in a beautiful teal dress that makes her dark cocoa skin almost glow. On her feet are short strappy wedge heels. I imagine that since she's already so tall when she wears heels she doesn't want them to be too high. Her legs are long and endless seeming to go on for miles. The last thing I take in is her face. She smiles down at me showing off bright white teeth with a little gap between her front teeth. To go with the teal dress she has shimmering gold eyeshadow that I recognize as being from our newest palette. Last but not least is her tightly curled afro that frames her sharp jaw.

"Thank you so much for interviewing me. I feel honored to be given this amazing opportunity." Her warm hand envelopes mine. Once we've shaken hands I gesture at the chairs for her to take a seat and make herself comfortable. She tells me a little bit about herself and then some of her experience in the modeling industry.

She gets the rare job here and there but really she's still trying to launch her career. No jobs have gotten her recognized and many of the interviews she has don't go anywhere. I can see all of the turndowns have discouraged her. It would do that same to me too if the reasons I was being turned down for things I couldn't or didn't want to change. Like my skin tone or wearing braces to fix a gap between my teeth. All these different things make her unique and beautiful. I'd rather see something different on a billboard then women who basically all look the same except for their hair or eye color.

"I don't mind having to straighten my hair for shoots," She explains to me, "but it would be nice to just be me. That's why I decided to reach out to you. You encourage women and even men of color to embrace who they are. Whether it's their skin tone, hair, freckles, what have you. I also love that you specifically cater to those of color. There aren't a lot of companies like that out there. I hope that more people will follow in your footsteps and it would be such an honor to be a part of this. What I'm really striving for is trying to let little girls who look like me or you know that if they put their minds to it they could be anything they want to be." She says passionately.

Her words hit home for me. Even though I grew up in an area that was pretty diverse you could still tell which groups were minorities. Then there was the fact that I was mixed. Being a quarter black, a quarter Guatemalan, and half white I felt that there was no place I really belonged. I was too dark for the white kids and too light for the dark kids. I felt like an outcast. Then there was the whole hateful relationship I had with my hair. I'd flat iron the curls to straight perfection any chance I got.

Then I started to get into makeup. Doing it on myself and on others. Creating palettes, lipsticks, and even hair products of my own. It felt like I had found a piece of me that had been missing. I was finally whole and happy. I started to embrace the color of my skin, the freckles spattered across my nose and cheeks, and these crazy curls that I now love and know how to take care of. It didn't happen overnight but over a few years. The process was long but by the end, I was happier than I had ever been in my life.

"I don't have any work for you right now," I begin and I can see the disappointment settle onto her face. She frowns and looks at her hands which she has clasped in her lap, "but in a month or two I should. Until you've signed the paperwork I can't tell you what it's for but I will say that for the shoot I have planned you won't need to straighten those gorgeous curls of yours." A huge smile takes over her face. I don't know if she caught onto the little hint I tried to drop her.

We chat for a little longer and when I mention that she'll be photographed by Devin Love she almost loses it. When we've finished talking I send her downstairs to the third floor to talk with human resources. They'll get her all set up with the paperwork she'll have to complete. When all that's done then we can start discussing more in-depth what I have planned for her.

"Here," I say, handing her some of my business cards, "one for you and some to give out to any friends you have looking for jobs. Send them my way if they are interested." She nods eagerly and thanks me profusely as I walk her to my office door. As she heads toward the elevator doors she gives me one last wave goodby over her shoulder.

"That sounded like it went very well," Rye says grinning as he follows me back into my office. He places a fresh full cup of hot coffee on my desk. Smiling at him in appreciation, I pick up the mug and bring the delicious liquid to my lips. I swear without coffee I don't know how I would make it through the day. Caffeine is a lifesaver.

"It went fantastic! I hope she has a few friends she can send my way. We could use a couple more models. Especially if they are as talented as she is." He nods his head in agreement and takes a seat across from me. We chat about our current models for a while and what new ones we need in case Rye hears from any of Tasha's colleagues.

"Have any plans for this week's video?" He asks me.

"Oh yeah," I say with an eager grin, "I have plans for this week and next week. Everyone is going to love them. It's going to be the perfect comeback video."

"Are you going to tell me?" He moves to the edge of the seat to get closer to me. Today he's wearing a lavender smokey eye with silver glitter at his tear duct. The lighter lavender shade of his eyeshadow matched the shade of his hair.

"You'll find out later today. I'm going to film it later when the guest of honor gets here."

"Who's the guest? The only person planning on coming today is Devin. Wait," Wide blue eyes stare at me as he figures it out, "No way! You got him to agree to let you do a tutorial on him."

"I sure did. It's part of our contract which I hope he brings today. He'll let me film me doing his makeup and in exchange, all he wanted was to be able to do a video of him doing my makeup in return."

"You're right," He laughs, "Best comeback video of all time. I can't wait to see this."

"Speak of the devil." I laugh as Devin waltzes into my office. "Just let yourself in why don't you."

"I think I will, thanks." He says with a wink and takes the available chair on the other side of my desk. "These are for you." He places a cup of coffee on my desk and some papers. Immediately, the scent of peppermint comes from the cup. Rye wrinkles his nose when he gets a whiff of it.

"I can't be in the same room as that cup of blasphemy. If you need anything, give me a call, and don't you dare start filing that video without me. You're getting a live audience today." He announces as he leaves. I laugh at his retreating figure. Picking up the papers I glance over them and realize that it's our contract.

"You got it!"

"I sure did. I've already signed it. Give it a read and let me know if there's anything you want to be taken out or added in. If it looks good to you then all you need to do is sign it." I put down my nearly empty mug sloshing around the contents inside but I'm too distracted to care about it.

The contact is short. Only a few pages long and it doesn't take me long to read it over. Everything we talked about and agreed to in-person is in here. At the very end is Devin's signature along with the date. I add mine underneath his.

Using my office phone I called Rye in and I ask him to make a copy of the papers for me. After he has the papers he scampers off to the copier.

"Well, that was quick and easy. I don't know why I thought that would be a lot more eventful." Devin says, making me chuckle.

"Thank you for the coffee. Are you ready to get the tour started?" I ask him.

"Lead the way." He stands from the chair and waits for me to get in front of him. With my fresh coffee in hand, I start the beginning of our journey.