America 1982-Chapter 278 - 10: Welcome to Your TV Station
New York, World Trade Center Building 1, 83rd floor, KeyBank New York headquarters.
In Ottelia’s office, two stylists stood against the wall, their eyes fixed on Ottelia, who sat in front of her desk smiling and talking with Heidi, a reporter from the renowned women’s magazine "Glamour". They were closely monitoring every detail of her makeup, quietly exchanging opinions now and then, reminding themselves to adjust the details of her makeup after the interview and before the photo shoot, to add a touch of independence to Ottelia’s image for the magazine’s upcoming shots, as she looked a bit too gentle at the moment.
In reality, there were more than just four people in the office. If one were to step back a bit, they would see that at the entrance of the office and the opposite corner, two cameras were at work, silently recording everything happening in the office.
However, for Ottelia, her assistant, or rather anyone at KeyBank, had grown accustomed to the sight of their young lady being followed by cameras wherever she went.
"If you were to define your identity, how would you define yourself?" Heidi held a recording pen in her hand, smiling at Ottelia as she asked.
Ottelia pondered for a moment. "A working woman, yes, I am a working woman."
"I thought you would pay more attention to promoting and emphasizing your independence or charity work. Why do you simply describe yourself as a working woman?" Heidi asked, curious.
Ottelia answered seriously, "I am just doing a job I ought to do, that’s all. It’s not grand, nor independent. On the contrary, when people see Ottelia Farell going to Africa, Europe to do some charity work, it’s not just her doing it—many people are doing similar things to what I do, and such acts are not grand. They are common, something that every good person would do if conditions allow."
"An independent working woman, apart from men—do you think it can be understood in this way?" After pondering for a short time, Heidi asked Ottelia.
"Only my work is temporarily independent. I have a boyfriend; I rely heavily on him in my life. He helps me take care of my two adopted dogs when he has spare time." Ottelia said to Heidi earnestly:
"In fact, I’ve found that the longer I work independently, the more I depend on him psychologically. I look forward to ending a phase of work, then welcoming a vacation to see him, to spend the holidays with him, to travel. So, I am just an ordinary woman."
Understanding Ottelia’s expression, Heidi nodded, but then turned her attention to the romance: "Don’t couples in love prefer to be with each other all the time?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"He has his job, and I have mine. Although work separates us, at the same time, it makes our lives more fulfilling. More importantly, it makes us realize that we must cherish every minute we spend together," Ottelia said to Heidi.
"Before this interview, I got some information about you, Miss Farell, from my colleagues, and then I noticed something very interesting. Your boyfriend’s name is Tommy Hawk?"
"Yes, that’s right."
"You were his high school teacher."
"Uh... I don’t have a teacher’s qualification certificate, and I didn’t have a teaching position, only an administrative one. Still, we indeed met for the first time when he was in his last year of high school. However, we didn’t have a teacher-student relationship. We only started to try dating after he went to college."
"Tommy Hawk was once a figure in the computer software industry for a time; newspapers once called him the ’swashbuckler of the software industry.’ But soon after that, there was no news about him. Is he still in the software industry?"
"Do we really want to focus on my boyfriend in an interview for a women’s magazine? I don’t think that’s a good idea." Seeing Heidi ask about Tommy’s recent situation, Ottelia couldn’t help but laugh and turn the question back on Heidi. "It’s strange."
Heidi laughed as well, "Okay, in fact, there are still many people who know your boyfriend’s name. However, he has been very low-key these past two years, and without any news about him, let’s get back to the topic. Ms. Farell, I’ve noticed that many of KeyBank’s charity projects are abroad. Do you have similar charity plans domestically?"
Ottelia nodded, "Yes, we always have. We previously conducted experimental attempts, mainly in Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and other places, offering microloans to low-income groups blacklisted by the financial system, encouraging them to get out of their difficult situations. So far, the trials have been very successful. Many have changed their dire conditions with KeyBank’s loans and good repayment habits. As far as I know, in California, there are already at least a few dozen formerly low-income individuals, who were earning less than a hundred dollars a week, who have now founded their own companies and recruited other low-income individuals, offering them jobs to sustain their lives. This is also what all colleagues at KeyBank hope to see. In addition to accepting interviews, another arrangement for my return to the country is to go to Los Angeles, California, to listen to the experiences of those who have succeeded, and to see if their successful experiences can be replicated in Africa or Europe."
"Speaking of accepting interviews, let’s talk about why you agreed to an interview with ’Glamour’ magazine? I mean, your assistant has turned me down more than a dozen times in the past year, but suddenly last week, the magazine’s editor-in-chief notified me that you would accept a personal interview with me."
