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Assuming you have the Internet and haven't been out of the country for the past week, I'm pretty sure you've heard about Tutugate ... aka when Self Magazine called a cancer survivor marathon runner lame. Well that lame runner is me!
Back in February Tara and I got a request through our Glam Runner website from a Self photo editor for a high res photo for a "write-up on running tutus". We were immediately excited and happily sent along a photo of us at the LA Marathon back in March 2013. This was a special race for us and a monumental day, and we were thrilled over the prospect of being featured in the magazine. (More on my blog LA Marathon: Powered by Chemo.)
LA Marathon - March 2013
Fast forward a couple months and I had totally forgotten we had even sent in the photo ... until a friend of mine texted me the picture. (Just the picture alone, not the caption around it.) I immediately got excited and ran out to get copies for friends and family. I scoured a couple drug stores and was unable to find it, but David was able to pull up the digital issue on Next Issue. Insert jaws dropping onto the floor. They used us in the "BS Meter" column where they rank things from Legit to Lame. We were sadly on the lame side. I couldn't believe it and went back to make sure I didn't misinterpret the email. I hadn't. The request didn't say how the photos would be used. Should we have asked? I then texted the picture to Tara and posted it on my personal Facebook page. After being validated by the outrage of my friends, I then posted it on our Glam Runner Facebook page. The story blew up from there.
Self Magazine BS Meter
I was contacted the next day by a reporter from NBC 7 in San Diego who wanted to do a story on this incident. I asked David "Is this really news? Should I say yes?" I decided to say yes but didn't think the story would go far. I was wrong. The story first aired last Wednesday night at 4pm. By 7am the next morning it had almost a million views on the website! Are you kidding me?
That next day CBS contacted me and wanted to do a feature for the CBS Morning News. Really? I couldn't believe how many people were interested in the story!
CBS Morning News Feature
(View the interview here)
I saw on twitter that the story was spreading like wildfire among runners, and then among other people as well. People were outraged that we were being made fun of, and started posting disparaging tweets directed at Self Magazine and the Editor in Chief, many proclaiming that they were cancelling their subscription and never buying Self again.
Front Page of Yahoo!
Over the next few days the storm continued. The story was getting picked up everywhere and friends started sending me links from various websites running the story. I was shocked when I saw the story make it to USA Today (article), Huffington Post (article), HLNtv (article), Yahoo (article), Perez Hilton (article), and many others. It was even the top trending story on Facebook. Was this real life?
Trending on Facebook
The Editor-in-Chief of Self quickly tweeted an apology to us, posted one on facebook, but the Self bashing continued. I was really surprised by how much outrage there was over the story, and I hate to think that it was ONLY because I have cancer. I guess even worse than just having cancer, I have cancer and we also make tutus to donate a portion to charity. How dare they make fun of a cancer patient? Well hey, what about the non cancer patient? My friend Tara was right by my side in the picture and is my 50/50 partner in Glam Runner and I'd say only 20% of the posts I saw got past the part where I have cancer and started questioning why a magazine was running a snarky piece like that at all, especially in a magazine that was supposed to empower women. Shouldn't we as women be here to lift each other up? Shouldn't we support each other to be individuals and to be confident in who we are?
Love This Meme
Throughout the whole media storm I was actually never 'mad' at Self. If anything I was hurt. I felt betrayed and misled, and was kind of embarrassed to be called lame. The Self Editor-in-Chief reached out to me and wanted to apologize amidst all of the frenzy, and on Friday I finally had time to give her a call and ended up talking to her for almost an hour. She apologized a million times, told me that the piece doesn't embody what Self is all about, told me that they're getting rid of the whole BS meter feature, and defended the magazine as being a huge supporter of cancer survivors and Girls on the Run, two types of charities that our tutus have raised money for. I accepted the apology and did a phone interview which was posted on their blog later that day, but the social media hate monsoon continued.
Self Blog Interview
(Full article here)
On Friday I was also contacted by the Today Show and the Katie Couric show. OMG!! I confirmed with the Katie show first and promised them that I wouldn't do any other national interview before their show aired. That means I turned down the Today Show, and later turned down Inside Edition. Was this really happening? I couldn't believe it.
Interview with CBS at the #tutusrock Beach Run
Before this whole Tutugate debacle started we had a little over 1000 Glam Runner facebook fans. That's from three years of being in business! Over the course of four days we skyrocketed up to 36,000 fans. Really. With that came a flood of orders. We had to take down the ordering page and instead put up a donation page for Girls on the Run San Diego. Within a few days we had raised $4500 for them. It has been amazing! Tara and I make tutus at home after work or on the weekends. Since we try to have lives outside of work and making tutus, we usually only make a few a week, and that is about the demand that we have. We suddenly had a month's worth of orders in a few hours. Insane!
Tutu'd Runners at the #tutusrock Beach Run
This whole mess has really resulted in a number of positive things though and while I kind of wish it hadn't happened in the first place, I think nothing but good has come from it. It started a conversation across the country about bullying and judging others for what they are wearing. It has raised a lot of awareness about Girls on the Run, the organization that we are Board Members for, former coaches for, and that we help raise money for. And it has shown us how much our friends and family love us, but also how much love and support strangers can provide as well.
Glam Sisters for Life
It has been exactly three years since Tara and I started Glam Runner, and I'm so glad we did. We've had a lot of fun, we've made a lot of people smile, and we've been able to do a lot of good with something as simple as a few yards of tulle and an elastic waistband.
(Click here to donate to Girls on the Run San Diego.)
(Click here to donate to Girls on the Run San Diego.)
