Angela Dimayuga, the executive chef at Mission Chinese Food, turned down a freelance writer who slid into her DMs to offer her an interview with Ivanka Trump’s website.
Dimayuga shared screen grabs of the conversation on her Instagram account:
“I would love to conduct an interview (via telephone/email) with you spotlighting your work as a strong female entrepreneur,” requested the reporter, describing IvankaTrump.com as “a non-political platform of empowerment for modern working women.”
“As a queer woman of color and daughter of immigrant parents, I am not interested…” Dimayuga, who was not having any of this BS, wrote.
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“So long as the name Trump is involved, it is political and frankly, an option for the IvankaTrump.com business to make a profit,” she replied.
In an interview with Huffington Post, Dimayuga said the exchange freaked her out, but she put together the best response with the help of a friend, activist Shakirah Simley.
Below is Dimayuga’s response in its entirety via her Instagram page:
Dimayuga has gained a ton of support from her followers, who have been “unanimously positive.”
She even received a compliment from celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who called Dimayuga “My hero!”
“The sheer number of people that have been supportive just shows that there is a stronger and bigger community than I see on the day-to-day that are willing to actually help, protect, support women and those in marginalized communities,” she told Huffington Post.
The freelance writer has not replied back to her message, but it appears that Ivanka Trump herself has started following the chef on Instagram.
“I’m not interested in a catfight―I just found an opportunity to speak and share my narrative and my truth to vocalize my values and my own integrity,” Dimayuga explained. “For me, it was an opportunity to say I belonged to a community where I hope to enrich the different spheres I live in and to cultivate empowering environments that are safe for us.”
