I was editorial director at a company where the owners regularly harassed all the women who worked there. They would hand out single roses to the all the women, regularly comment on our bodies, belittle us.

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In my previous workplace.

Did you report the incident(s) to someone? Why or why not? If you did report it, what happened?

All the woman working there began keeping notes about every incident because we believed we might need it to make a case someday. We tried talking to our boss, the publisher, but the owners were his bosses. He laughed at us and said we were making something out of nothing, they were just being nice, they didn't mean anything.

What was the effect of this on you, both personally and on your career?

One by one, all the women left. I left that job because I knew I'd never be heard or valued. It was a small company with a lot of young women just beginning in the industry, and we didn't have an HR department. Our publisher *was* essentially the HR department, and if he wouldn't hear or believe us or care about our concerns, there was nothing more to do but leave.

What do you think can be done to combat harassment in the industry?

Now we can speak out and there's enough awareness that it's no longer this boy's club where men can behave however they like around women employees. The only way to stop it is to speak out in the moment, call it out to the face of the abuser and say "This is not okay." But more than that, we need to teach young women, all women, that they *can* do this. I think every employee in every company should have to log so many hours of sexual harassment training every year. All levels of employees, even the owners. People need to understand what constitutes harassment, and they need to be reminded of it often.

Do you have anything you'd like to add?

As a high-level editor, I've also been in the company of many well-known authors and illustrators with giant egos. We're taught to cater to them, court them, wine and dine them, flirt with them. The problem is coming from all angles.