🪞 Mirror Me Blog Series: Portmeirion Scandal — Part XIII "Pawns in Their Game: Why They Hired Me While Jewel Was Still There"
🔍 Introduction: The Setup Was Already in Motion
Let’s be clear — I did not replace Jewel Martin. When I started working at Portmeirion, she was still there. We even shared the same role title: Accounts Payable Clerk. But the way things were unfolding, it was obvious that one of us was not meant to stay.
It was like watching a slow, silent hand rearrange pieces on a corporate chessboard. Only later would I realize the game wasn’t about skill — it was about silence.
🧩 Two Black Women, One Pattern
Jewel Martin, a Jamaican woman and experienced AP specialist, had already voiced her concerns to Dominique back in September 2024. She reported serious issues: duplicate payments, incorrect vendors, and a department spiraling into chaos under Jennifer’s leadership.
Just like me, Jewel was ignored. But instead of firing her outright, Dominique began to phase her out.
Excluded from meetings. Ignored in decision-making. Silenced through neglect.
By the time I was hired in late November 2024, the pattern was already repeating — only now, it had a new face: mine.
🕵🏽♀️ The Double Hire: A Smokescreen of Diversity
At first, it looked like I was brought on for extra help. But let’s ask a real question:
Why hire multiple AP temps if the department was functioning well?
Dominique didn’t just bring me in — William Rafferty started a week before me. It wasn’t about support. It was about control. It was about shielding Jennifer from scrutiny by surrounding her with bodies who wouldn’t question her.
Except Jewel and I did.
🔒 The Silent Replacement Plan
I now believe that if I had stayed longer, Jewel would have been pushed out entirely. The signs were all there: Juliet Casey, my staffing rep from CFS, had already called Jewel — not out of concern, but to gauge her willingness to leave.
Juliet was tracking her like a recruiter, not supporting her like a partner.
When I reported what I saw, including how the environment was making Jewel physically ill, Juliet did nothing.
And it wasn’t just Juliet. Makayla — another white woman in power — also knew.
Juliet went to Makayla.
And still — nothing changed.
🧠 Divide, Distract, Dismiss
Let’s look at the pattern:
Jennifer causes chaos.
Two Black women raise concerns.
White leadership closes ranks.
The Black women are isolated.
The Black women are blamed.
It’s not just toxic — it’s systemic. And it’s old.
We weren’t a team. We were pawns.
🧬 Workplace Plantation Politics
This goes deeper than corporate dysfunction.
Historically, Black women have been pitted against one another to maintain control — on plantations, in politics, in boardrooms.
Jewel and I were never meant to work together. We were meant to be cycled.
Use one until she resists.
Then quietly prepare her replacement.
Keep the white woman — Jennifer — centered, protected, and unaccountable.
✨ Reflection Prompt:
Have you ever realized too late that you were placed in someone else’s shadow? What did you do with that realization?
🧠 Spot the Narc Traits:
Divide and conquer
Smear campaigns
Corporate silence
Passive removal
💬 Affirmation:
"I was never too loud — they were too used to my silence."
📌 To Be Continued in Blog 14: Tomorrow, we explore how Makayla became the silent thread between it all — and why white allyship without action is just performance.
🕊️ Stay sharp, stay seen.