Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Upworthy to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

A shocking workplace incident has sparked widespread support online after a vice president bravely spoke up about inappropriate comments made about her during a business video call. Whitney Sharpe, 28, who works for a recruiting and staffing company in Boston, found herself facing a deeply uncomfortable situation when male colleagues accidentally displayed their group chat, revealing inappropriate remarks about her appearance.

“When a vendor accidentally shares his group Teams chat, it’s all nasty things about me. It’s 2023, can this stop,” Sharpe captioned her TikTok video, which quickly went viral, gaining over 2 million views.


   media1.tenor.com  

Sharpe shared further details of the incident with TODAY, explaining that it occurred during a video meeting on January 24, 2024, with three male employees from a potential client company. Her role involves assessing vendors to strengthen business teams. Sharpe chose not to disclose the company involved. The meeting participants had been informed the call was being recorded.

“I was on a call about to do a demo, and that software vendor accidentally shared their group chat with me instead of sharing the demo that they were supposed to share,” Sharpe explained. “The group chat said some pretty unkind things about me and it just kind of went on from there.” She mentioned only one specific comment from the chat, referring to her as an "effing bombshell," and declined to reveal further details.

   media1.tenor.com  

“They realized (what happened), I would say, maybe 30 seconds to a minute into the conversation,” she added. “Certainly enough time for me to be able to see it go back and forth.” Sharpe acknowledged feeling nervous as she calmly addressed the situation, emphasizing the importance of controlling her emotions to avoid being labeled as "too emotional."

“My mind was going, ‘Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry, just get the words out,’” she recalled. “I just was focusing on breathing in, getting the words out clearly and calmly. I think as a woman in the workplace, we’re often labeled emotional. I really didn’t want them to be able to say that I was emotional in my response. I definitely could have gone a lot harder on them. But if I did that, they would have been able to say that I was ‘too emotional’ and I was going to play into that, and I didn’t want that to be an excuse.”

   media1.tenor.com  

After giving herself 15 minutes to process, Sharpe confronted the men directly on the call: “Okay, well, first of all, if we’re going to continue working together, I want to work with a woman sales representative because I don’t want to have to see locker room talk about myself when you’re sharing screens,” she asserted.

   media1.tenor.com  

In response, one of the men described the behavior as “inexcusable” and apologized during the call. Sharpe later shared an apology letter sent by the company's VP, and noted that the CEO reached out formally after 24 hours with an apology, although she felt it lacked sincerity. “I felt that was a big issue and the CEO was on the line with an attorney and his head of HR,” Sharpe explained, saying the apology “didn’t feel genuine whatsoever.” She has yet to receive personal apologies from the three men involved.

  TikTok | @whitneyrose617 

  Tiktok | @whitneyrose617 

Sharpe now hopes to collaborate with advocacy groups like RAINN and the EEOC to better understand and educate others about workplace harassment. “I’m really hoping to partner with some of these organizations like RAINN,” she noted, emphasizing, “I really am hoping to speak with someone from RAINN and then the EEOC, which protects employees in the United States, so I can continue educating myself and then use my platform to make sure I’m saying the right things I don’t want to ever be giving the wrong advice.”


@whitneyrose617

It’s rough being a woman in a male dominated field 😬

 

More For You

A mother scolds her child in a dim room.

Parents might be setting their children up for a lifetime of issues without ever realizing it.

Psychologist warns about 'eggshell parenting'—and why its effects last a lifetime

Children thrive in environments where they feel safe, secure, and loved. But when these feelings are unpredictable, it can create lasting emotional harm. Dr. Kim Sage, a licensed psychologist from Newport, California, has popularized the term "eggshell parenting" to describe this dynamic. Through her TikTok channel (@drkimsage), she has shared hundreds of videos explaining how eggshell parenting affects children and their future relationships.

What is eggshell parenting?

Eggshell parenting occurs when a child's emotional environment is dictated by a parent's unpredictable outbursts. Dr. Sage explains that this forces children to be constantly on high alert, suppressing their natural emotions and behaviors to avoid triggering a negative reaction. "Eggshell parenting and emotionally unpredictable, unsafe parenting often creates a lifetime of hypervigilance in us and a deep belief that there’s no such thing as real safety in relationships," she says.

Keep ReadingShow less
Woman gets perfect revenge on debt collectors who demanded to speak to her dead dad
Representative photo by Canva

Woman gets perfect revenge on debt collectors who demanded to speak to her dead dad

Handling the debts of a deceased family member can often become a stressful ordeal, particularly when creditors insist on speaking with someone who has passed away. Recently, Reddit user u/georgetgwtbn shared her unusual experience, detailing how she carefully managed almost all of her late father's financial obligations. However, things took a strange turn when a debt collection agency demanded to speak directly to her father—despite him having passed away several years earlier. This peculiar insistence prompted her to grant their request in a uniquely memorable way.


Keep ReadingShow less
Actor James Avery; The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air logo

Uncle Phil, played by actor James Avery, on the sitcom Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Kingkongphoto/Wikipedia

Why millennials are saying Uncle Phil from The Fresh Prince is the greatest TV dad ever

Sitcoms hit a peak in the 80s and 90s—and most Millennials can claim that they 'grew up' with them. A lot of time it was the father figures in these TV shows who proved to be standout characters, but one dad captured Millennials hearts over all the rest: Uncle Phil, played by actor James Avery in Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Uncle Phil was deemed the best sitcom dad by Millennials, and he earned the title from one of his show's most impactful scenes from the episode "Papa's Got a Brand New Excuse" that aired in May 1994.

In it, Will (played by actor Will Smith) spends time with his dad Lou, who has been absent for the past 14 years. Uncle Phil is distrustful of Lou and protective over his nephew Will. So when Lou decides to dip out on a trip he planned with Will, Uncle Phil steps into Will's pain and supports him. It plays out as one of the most emotional scenes Millennials can remember–making Uncle Phil the best TV dad in their eyes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Boyfriend critiques girlfriend’s ‘performance.’ She shut him down instantly.
Representative photo by Canva

Boyfriend critiques girlfriend’s ‘performance.’ She shut him down instantly.

Love isn’t a business transaction, but one boyfriend apparently didn’t get the memo. When one woman shared her story, the internet was left cringing and cheering her on after she dumped her boyfriend for giving her a performance review—just like a boss would with an employee. Instead of talking through relationship concerns like a normal person, he decided to critique her ‘performance’ as a girlfriend, complete with a folder of written notes. The reaction? Exactly what you’d expect.

The relationship audit no one asked for

The couple had been together for three years, living in a modest apartment that worked for them. According to the girlfriend, Mark always had quirks—like folding his socks into little balls and getting upset if she didn’t do it the same way.

Keep ReadingShow less

The Challenger disaster unfolded live on TV. Their last words remain unforgettable.

Space exploration has always carried great risks, but few tragedies have been as devastating as the Challenger disaster. On January 28, 1986, the STS-51L mission took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying seven crew members who had trained for months for their journey into space.

Just 73 seconds after liftoff, the Challenger shuttle disintegrated, taking the lives of everyone on board. The last recorded words from the crew—spoken in the seconds before the explosion—have since become a chilling part of spaceflight history.

Keep ReadingShow less