Story 207
To stories 203 and 206: I believe you. Both of you. On an instinct level. And that matters, because if it lands that way for me, it will land that way for others. Your accounts have the texture of truth. Speak them.
What I would tell you both: do not walk into HR alone. Engage an employment lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment before you say a single word internally. HR protects the institution. A lawyer protects you. That sequence changes everything.
I would still encourage you to report. Not because the system deserves your trust — it hasn’t earned it — but because your accounts may be the thing that protects the next woman. Patterns like this don’t end on their own. They end when someone creates a record.
Reading your stories triggered me. I worked under an MD at Citi whose behavior toward “beautiful people” was discussed with me by both his male and female direct reports — and it made my skin crawl.
He was meeting with my directs 1:1 without informing me. I warned my new hires to speak up if anything felt wrong. There had been no explicit allegations. But that instinctive alarm is itself an indicator of predatory behavior. We know it when we feel it.
I wish I had done more at the time. I pondered how to confront what I was feeling, but without a formal allegation, I didn’t know how.
You are not alone. You are believed. Do not be shamed into silence. The times are a-changing.