It's all social media. I stumbled on her via Twitter. Someone linked to her "What about the men?" blog post, and I followed her on the strength of that. Based on the post I imagined her to be the manager of this third sector mental health service, carrying out PhD research alongside it. When I started seeing things that caused flickers of doubt in my mind - the unnecessarily combative online presence, overconfident declarations that seemed to go well beyond her expertise - I reasoned that it must just be that her communication style wasn't my cup of tea. I believed her implicitly when she reeled off all the different roles she'd supposedly worked in, and I thought that if there was a genuine problem, others would have seen by now. When I understood her habit of embellishing the facts, and realised that she could turn a job as a supermarket cashier into "handling significant amounts of currency for the Bank of England", it all became clear. It's like those false-fronted buildings they used to use on old-fashioned film sets - from the front it looks solid, imposing, but walk round the back and you find very little there. That's Jessica's career.
Dr Jessica Taylor #4 Consent is for losers, not for me. Ignore that journalist spilling the tea.
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I always enjoyed the penultimate episode of the Apprentice where the puffed up often delusional candidates were giving a grilling and any inconsistent claims outed by seasoned industry professionals.
Probably because no one pays attention as it's not really the appropriate platform for her.
Oh my, I find this weirdly triggering. She always winds up every single post into giving advice. She's concluding telling Britney how she should live her life...does this border on, completely unprofessional and inappropriate ?
She doesn't know Britney and media coverage of her isn't a real depiction of her identity and struggles. If she truly cares in any way she'd go behind the scenes and not snootily advise Britney on social media.
Desperate plea to soak up some Britney fans on her dwindling social media ?
She doesn't know Britney and media coverage of her isn't a real depiction of her identity and struggles. If she truly cares in any way she'd go behind the scenes and not snootily advise Britney on social media.
Desperate plea to soak up some Britney fans on her dwindling social media ?
Her credibility with the public seems inversely proportional to her credibility with professionals. Her web presence started out looking quite serious and now from a professional point of view it's inconsistent at best, tacky and sensationalist at worst.
She would go behind the scenes if she could. I remember when she told Victim Focus employees that she was in personal contact with Amber Heard, and I'm sure she'd just love to count herself the trusted friend and confidante of a celebrity. There is always a tone of warmth when she addresses celebrities that is rarely present at other times...unless she wants something out of the other person. And she wants something here. Either Britney's fans to amplify her voice and her profile, or Britney herself to reply. If I didn't know Jessica's behaviour I'd think it was just a kindly message, but the self-aggrandising love of celebrity (I'm about to talk to Amber on the phone, my cousin plays football for England, etc.) has been apparent for a long time.
Happened on Twitter as well, pro Britney accounts adopted her. So calculated. Definitely good point that her tone is different in courting celebs. Couldn't imagine her offering empathy to the vulnerable women who contact her for help. Or even the one woman still seeking a refund because she was in a tough spot and could no longer attend her prepaid VF course.
Celebs have influence - all Jessica yearns for is influence, power etc. likely because she’s felt powerless in her past. As I said, she needs to heal.
I remember in a VictimFocus meeting with Jess and Jaimi during the time when we were trying to get them to deal with the toxicity of the work culture and commit to their supposed principles and had been met with - frankly - nothing but fuckery from them both, Jaimi lost her patience and had a rant about how she was sick of hearing about it as VF had important work to do, supposedly work that no other organisation does (not true. Lots of other orgs do similar work).
She blurted out that Jess had been having conversation with "huge, huge people in Hollywood" who'd been impressed with the work VF did. I remember thinking "WTF? Who gives a duck about what people in Hollywood think?". Jaimi obviously thought we should be impressed that Jess had supposedly been talking to "huge" Hollywood types, but seriously, what VAWG organisation worth its salt takes its lead from Hollywood celebs?
Give me strength.
She then threatened to shut down all communications between staff outside of email.
bleeping idiots, the pair of them.
Jess's main talent is blagging. It's got her so far, but her ego is too big to accept she's wrecked this blag. Everyone has seen her true colours now.
She blurted out that Jess had been having conversation with "huge, huge people in Hollywood" who'd been impressed with the work VF did. I remember thinking "WTF? Who gives a duck about what people in Hollywood think?". Jaimi obviously thought we should be impressed that Jess had supposedly been talking to "huge" Hollywood types, but seriously, what VAWG organisation worth its salt takes its lead from Hollywood celebs?
Give me strength.She then threatened to shut down all communications between staff outside of email.
bleeping idiots, the pair of them.
Jess's main talent is blagging. It's got her so far, but her ego is too big to accept she's wrecked this blag. Everyone has seen her true colours now.
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Shutting down communication between staff? Was the next 'NDA' going to include a clause where staff sign away their right to freedom of association and agree to have their private messages monitored by Jess? That just sounds unhinged, as does the sudden invocation of Hollywood. Far from impressing me, that would concern me. Did anyone on the staff actually believe it or see the idea as a positive thing?She blurted out that Jess had been having conversation with "huge, huge people in Hollywood" who'd been impressed with the work VF did. I remember thinking "WTF? Who gives a duck about what people in Hollywood think?". Jaimi obviously thought we should be impressed that Jess had supposedly been talking to "huge" Hollywood types, but seriously, what VAWG organisation worth its salt takes its lead from Hollywood celebs?
She then threatened to shut down all communications between staff outside of email.
bleeping idiots, the pair of them.
Jess's main talent is blagging. It's got her so far, but she her ego is too big to accept she's wrecked this blag. Everyone has seen her true colours now.
Not for the first time, I find myself wondering the extent to which Jaimi believes this stuff. Part of me hopes she's lying too, because if she isn't, it's going to feel so hurtful and humiliating when she one day realises that she was duped into standing up in front of people and trying to sell them a teenage wannabe celeb fantasy.
It was all part of fuckery of the highest order. Some of the staff, myself included, raised concerns after the WhatsApp chat about Sally Ann and Rachel Williams. Jessica appeared to be taking it seriously and saying all the right things to start with e.g. (paraphrasing) "everyone should feel free to speak their mind, no one is in trouble, I need to take responsibility for the culture in the WhatsApp as the boss, as no one has had any guidance" etc etc.
At this point, we STILL thought we were working for an organisation that was ethical and feminist at heart and that although something had plainly gone very wrong, it was fixable, as here we were talking openly about it. Only that was a charade. I can see now that Jess was just collecting information to see who she could trust not to question her.
After that, a week of absolute fuckery commenced, after which everyone who questioned her lost their jobs.
It was during that week I saw Jess's true colours. She lied and lied and lied, and I watched Jaimi lie for her. She and Jaimi invented a narrative that there was an element of people at VF who were against the other staff and wanted retribution for the WhatsApp chat. We didn't want that at all, we wanted the organisation to be the trauma informed, ethical organisation it had been presented to us as. We wanted Jess to start acting like the ethical feminist she claimed she was. (Of course we know now, that was never going to happen.)
Jess tried to bully me into telling her who'd raised concerns about the WhatsApp chat and when I refused (as a few people had told me in confidence as one of the managers), she elicited the information out of a junior team member, then used that information to frame one of my highly ethical, extremely capable team members as a troublemaker.
I'd handed in my notice within a week of that meeting, my two team members had been sacked for completely false reasons and others were soon to follow out the door.
Jess has since told the staff that I had it in for them all along. Women I worked alongside, and those who knew me less well, are now scared to talk to me. Seriously, what bleeping nonsense. And the absolute MO of an abusive liar - isolating people so as to control the narrative.
There were 24 members of staff at the time of the last recruitment drive in March, plus Jess and Jaimi. Only 11 of those staff remain as far as I know, could be less, even.
If any of those staff are reading this, if Jess has told you I had it in for any of you, she's lying her bleeping arse off. It's what she does. She lies, and she lies, and she lies. I don't have it in for any of you. I was taken in by Jess for a long time, I really believed in the work I though we were doing and I was gutted to find out it's a sham. I am deeply concerned about the unethical, toxic house of cards that Jess has built.
Think about it, how many of the staff have had leaving parties? None when I left. Have many had one since? I doubt it's many, if any. That's not normal.
If a load of tit KEEPS on bleeping happening to one person, after a while you have to ask yourself, does the world really have it in for this person, or are they the problem? Once you realise it's Jess that's the problem, it all makes a whole lot more sense.
Jaimi constantly shores up Jess's lies. She lies for her so often. I really don't know how aware she is of the extent of what she's doing though, or if she can clearly see how far from normal or OK the whole situation is.
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I’m glad that you got out of that awful toxic environment. Thank you for your bravery in speaking out.
Jess found Jaimi at a young age and she wouldn’t have picked her if she wasn’t confident that she could totally groom and coerce her. I don’t know how long it will be before she sees it, if she ever does, but I can’t help but feel sorry for Jaimi. When she is discarded and replaced (which she eventually will be as that is a narcs MO) it’s going to be very hard for her to process this and come out of the other side.
Sorry, I realise that's perhaps not clear. I can see it could be read as if Jess was defending the toxic chat, but what she was saying at that point was basically that she acknowledged the chat wasn't OK, and that saying staff should be free to talk about our concerns, we would deal with it together and she would take responsibility for it as the boss. It seemed refreshing, like we were dealing with a serious issue that had arisen together in a frank, open and honest way.
But, we weren't. Far from it. It was all bullshit. Jess was acting as if people were free to express concerns but it was a set up. Everyone who did, has now lost their job.
At that time, looking back now, she was also lying her arse off about Sally Ann around this time too, pretending she wasn't in the book and some imaginary woman "C" was upset as it was her story. And lying about the police arresting Sally Ann.
I found your writing clear on that point, she feigned empathy and professionalism...sounds so chilling.
It also seems that the chat posts were in some way to get her approval, so maybe there had been a history prior ....like staff wouldn't have been saying those things unless they knew she would appreciate it...
Jaimi tweeted to others about that too, I think she said the "real" women affected are getting upset. I really can't see how Jaimi didn't know what she was doing at that point, sharing online that SA was deluded and also somehow responsible for triggering another "real" woman, making it look as if SA was upsetting others . As if SA was inconsiderate...
Taking some moral ground like they don't care about SA but there are real women they're helping and protecting.
It also seems that the chat posts were in some way to get her approval, so maybe there had been a history prior ....like staff wouldn't have been saying those things unless they knew she would appreciate it...
Jaimi tweeted to others about that too, I think she said the "real" women affected are getting upset. I really can't see how Jaimi didn't know what she was doing at that point, sharing online that SA was deluded and also somehow responsible for triggering another "real" woman, making it look as if SA was upsetting others . As if SA was inconsiderate...
Taking some moral ground like they don't care about SA but there are real women they're helping and protecting.
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I still have that message and just read it back. Jess clearly states that she is concerned about what people are saying, because she is worried about it going online. All she cared about was getting caught saying or letting people say stuff, not what was actually being said. Probably because she knew she'd lied on it so much.
I especially realised this when their reaction to complaints about the chat was putting disappearing messages on. After a 4hour zoom meeting about it (amongst other), they still didn't get why what was said was wrong, all they cared about was whether they were caught saying it. They opened up a second whatsapp chat after the first went so wrong, with daily requests to delete the old one off our personal phones which we had to confirm in writing, so we could be held to the bullshit confidentiality agreement if we didn't.
Within hours the second group became people laughing about the RW thing all over again, in fact laughing at how they got 'told off'/not told off for it. Then that one had to also be shut down because it too got out of hand. It lasted maybe a day or two.
She did take some responsibility for the chat in her private message to staff, telling them it was a 'safe space' to tell her how we felt, but as Witchinghour says, your response to the message about the chat was the real test, so I think it was just her manipulating you to find out how loyal you were.
Jaimi’s culpability here is questionable though, depending on how honest Jess is with her in the first place. If we take it as a given that Jaimi has been groomed by Jess, then being in Jess’ thrall she could simply be repeating what Jess has told her without feeling the need to ask for proof that these “real” women exist. If Jess has told Jaimi that 1) SA is lying and 2) the person who actually contributed that story is upset, then it’s all part of Jess’ control of Jaimi.
It’s entirely possible that Jaimi does know the full story, but the above is also a very realistic possibility.
Also obviously there are a lot of receipts out there now and Jess has changed her story, which will no doubt be causing some cognitive dissonance for Jaimi, but if she’s fully invested in her relationship with Jess it will be hard for her to accept that she’s been lied to and will be making her mind do somersaults to make it all make sense so she doesn’t have to question what Jess tells her.
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