July 7, 2025 • 29 mins
Sarah’s Day has sparked a feud with fragrance brand, Who is Elijah, over a cancelled perfume collaboration. … AND Tammy Hembrow and Matt Zukowksi are both in their self improvement eras post break-up.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Amy Torber and coming up on today's show, we dive
deep on Sarah's Day's canceled Perfume collaboration drama for first.
Tammy Hembro and Matt Zakowski are both in their self
improvement eras post breakup, and it was rather awkward, Kate,
(00:24):
because they almost posted simultaneously about the things they're doing
to move on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, and I felt really sorry for Matt because Tammy's
method definitely trumped his. So she was away in New
Zealand and she ended up bungee jumping from a one
hundred and thirty six meter high mountain and she shared
the incredible vision to her Instagram story with the caption
to me, this wasn't a jump, it was a release.
Something about free falling forces you to let go of
(00:50):
fear of control of literally everything weighing you down. Man,
did it feel good? Best day ever?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Look, it'd be pretty hard for Matt to top that,
but he has been finding himself again by eating solo
in restaurants, and he uploaded a video of him eating chicken,
but completely confused his followers by writing the following caption,
time to date and find myself again.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I saw this and was like, oh God, he's really
shot himself in the foot, because the way some people
could read it sounded like he was saying that he's
ready to date again and that's how he's going to
find himself. However, I think we all knew that he
actually meant that he was going to start dating himself
and taking himself out, because that's what Moore matched up
with the vision, and not long after, Matt deleted the
(01:34):
original story and corrected himself, writing time to date myself
in capitals and find myself in capitals again.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Did you see that video he shared of himself at
one of those smash rooms.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I found it super interesting. Obviously there's a lot going
on with him, and it is a great way to
get your I suppose anger out.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, well he captained it probably needed a hug.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But I notice he's also been sharing a few cryptic quotes,
kind of jumping on TERMMI and him Bro's bandwagon a
little bit. He was watching Friends and avid Friends' viewers
will know the scene, so he posted a picture of Ross,
and it was when Rachel started dating Joey and they
all did the double date, and Ross goes, I'm fine.
He posted that. He said that was what he responds
(02:17):
to wheneveryone asked him how he's doing.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I saw a photo of him lying on a couch
with his sister's golden retriever, and that one made me
feel quite sorry for him. Do you think these posts
are actually working towards public sympathy.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
A little bit? I mean, the captain said, it's hard
to feel sad when this guy is giving you hugs,
and I suppose it really humanized him because it's easy
to look at Tammy and Matt as characters because their
relationship really has played out online and it seems like
a soap opera, like you can't actually believe that this
was a real relationship. But at the end of the day,
(02:49):
there are two real people in the middle of this,
and they obviously actually did love each other.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, and we still don't know what actually has happened
where yet to really hear from Matt's side of the story.
I think a lot of people have jumped to the
conclusion and they think that Matt was the person in
the wrong, but this hasn't yet been confirmed by either
Tammy or Matt. We've only seen comments or videos alluding
to something that's gone down.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think Matt is going to share his side of
the story very soon because I tuned into his podcast
Where's Your Head At, and his co host Anna McAvoy
has been on maternity leave and they bolk recorded a
bunch of episodes and she was meant to be away
for six weeks. However, on last Tuesday's episode, she announced
at the start of the episode that this would be
(03:33):
their last pre recorded episode and that they were back
next week, which is actually today the podcast drops. So
I think Matt is most likely going to be sharing
his side of the story on that episode.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It'd be very interesting to hear what he has to
say about it. I wonder if he's spoken to a
publicist to get some advice on how he should share
his story.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think that would benefit him greatly. While he does
have a podcast, I think he lacks media training. I mean,
we saw that in the episode where he's spoke about
the Grand Prix cheating scandal, and you know, it really
wasn't good for him.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
If you were hired by Matt, what would be your advice.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, I think we're in an interesting time for influencers
because previously everyone's like, Okay, you share your life online,
you earn a lot of money, and that means you
forfeit your private life to us and we can say
anything we want about you online. However, the tide is
turning and influencers are calling out their trolls. Indy Clinton's
got a PI. She is taking some of her trolls
(04:31):
to court. We've recently seen the tattle Life owner unmasked.
You know, there is a reckoning for influencers and trolls
at the moment. So I think that he will go
down the route of placing himself as a victim. I'm
not saying he's not, because you know, he has been
trolled very badly, and I think he will probably open
up about how detrimental the whole relationship has been to
(04:53):
his mental health and humanize himself.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I wonder, though, if public sympathy is waning towards influencers
who do discussed trolling, especially Matt, because a lot of
people think that he is the reason why he and
Tammy split up.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
At the end of the day, if I was Matt
the pr manager. I would say, keep it brief and
keep it respectful. Don't do some one hour long episode
that goes into all the dirty details of the breakup
as much as I want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, do the Molly May where you're like, I just
respect this person so much that I'm not going to
speak ill about them.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And they get back with it and I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
John yea nah nah. But let people read into it.
Sometimes saying less is actually saying more.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, I agree, it's funny. I came across the TikTok
of Tammy's that I wanted to quickly talk to you
about Amy. So she did a brand collaboration with a
jewelry company and it was clearly pre recorded because she
was wearing her engagement ring and wedding band in it.
And it got really awkward because at the start of
the video she said this.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So I'm not someone who owns a whole lot of
nice story. So I thought it was time to add
some really nice pieces to my collection. I wanted something
I could pass down to Sas or Posey, so I
went to Cullen Jewelry.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
All I could think about after watching this was you
don't have a lot of nice jewelry. You have three
incredible engagement rings. And then it got me thinking, Okay,
if she kept her engagement ring from Rhys Hawkins, could
she pass that down to Saski or and if she
kept the engagement ring from Matt Paul, could posey have it?
Like would you retiquate around that?
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I don't know if I was her child, if I'd
want the engagement ring from the failed relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But as from their dad and they're absolutely beautiful rings.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, But normally when someone passes down their mother's wedding
ring or engagement ring, it's been from a very happy marriage.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Maybe Tammy's grandchildren that will be fighting over all the
engaging rings.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So today's meeting is with who Is Elijah?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Sarah's Day has announced her collaboration with fragrance brand who
Is Elijah Is Over the og influencer was set to
launch a personal perfume with the Australian Fragrance House and
had been documenting the process to where one point two
million of followers. Sarah shared the news on Friday, and
it didn't take long for things to get messy. At
the time of recording, the real has had over one
(07:08):
point two million views. Now, Kate, before we way into
the drama, can you introduce the main players?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, so let's start with who is Elijah. It's not
just some small perfume brand. This is a business that
is valued at twenty million dollars and has recently signed
a landmark deal with one of the UK's biggest retailers.
So the founder's name is Raquel Boris and she launched
the business back in twenty eighteen after being inspired by
(07:35):
a unisex perfume that she came across on a trip
to Coachella. As for Sarah, regular listeners will be fully acquainted,
but for those unfamiliar, she is a thirty two year
old Sydney based influencer who's been sharing her life online
for over eleven years. So she started out sharing health
and fitness content but now shares more lifestyle content as
(07:55):
a mum of three young children. She also is a
successful business woman in her own right, so in addition
to her social media career, she is a best selling
cookbook author, selles workout guides, used to run a recipe
app called Sonny, and co owns a creative agency with
her husband Kurt.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So now we're up to speed. I want to get
into the drama because on Friday, Sarah announced it an
Instagram reel that her collaboration with who Is Elijah was over.
So she claimed she'd been working on the collaboration for
two years after the brand reached out to her to
make a fragrance. Now, Sarah said she felt like she
owed her followers an update as she had documented the
(08:34):
entire process. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
I just wanted to sit down and update you guys
on something you've been asking me a lot about, and
that is my collaboration with who Is Elijah. So two
years ago they reached out to me to make a
fragrance with them, and as you know, I have documented
the entire process. You guys have come along on the
journey and we were all really excited. And unfortunately it's
no longer happening. And I'm sure you're asking why, and honestly,
(09:01):
we are asking the same question.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I don't have the answers for you. Unfortunately. I know
that might sound really confusing.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Or frustrating that I don't have more to give you,
but yeah, I'm just as disheartened. I guess as you guys,
and I was really excited about this collaboration, but it's
just not happening. That is, unfortunately the update. However, I
am working on a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Other exciting things, so let's just focus on those and
forget that ever happened.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
I should vibe it from my mind, wipe it from
all of our memories.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Okay, get all things, don't that's love that. It's fine.
We're fine. We're fine. That's fine. You guys, get it, Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
As soon as Sarah dropped this news, I race back
to her old reels to watch what she had shared
about this collaboration. So back in December, she filmed herself
getting ready for a meeting with Who Is Elijah, and
in the video, she revealed that the team had already
signed off on the scent, the name of the scent,
and the color of the fragrance, and that she was
(10:04):
going to pitch a campaign idea. Now, in terms of
the name of the perfume, it was actually Sarah's hairstylist,
Kirby Lago, who came up with it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So Sarah has.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Featured her hairstylist a lot on her Instagram because she
recently got hair extensions it also won a promotion with them,
so I was like, oh, okay, that's interesting. This is
what Sarah had to say.
Speaker 7 (10:27):
So in terms of the name, probably came up with
a list of like, I don't know, one hundred and
twenty names and I was like going back and forth, but.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Like nothing was sticking out to me.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
And the next day I had a hair appointment with Kirby,
my hairstylist, and she's actually friends with Raquel, the founder
of Who Is Elijah.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I would love to know where Kirby stands on this.
How awkward for her to be in the middle of
this with two of her friends. It's interesting because on
Sunday night, Sarah was talking about how she's getting her
hair done with Kirby, so obviously Sarah and her are
still friends. It gets even more awkward because Sarah, Raquel,
and Kirby are all from Cranulla. But as I mentioned earlier,
(11:05):
Raquel recently moved to London, which probably makes it a
little bit less awkward.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, but Sarah's quite well known for having these friendship
bust ups as well.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, There's been a few best friends that have featured
on her social media that have just disappeared like Taika
who used to work with her she was a bridesmaid.
Then there was also Beth, who was friends with Kurt's
friend Brenton, who was on Big Brother. Yeah, they they're
no longer friends, so it's all very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I'm sure they've got tales to tell.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well. A few hours after Sarah's announcement, Raquel Boris released
her own statement via her personal Instagram, which was then
later shared to her business's social media and in it
she wrote, Hi all, I've seen the video going around
and just wanted to clear a few things up. We
honestly have so much love and respect for Sarah. It
was such an exciting project to work on together. But
(11:53):
the decision to pause the collab wasn't random or without reason.
As who was Elijah grows into international markets, Hello Europe
twenty twenty six, We've had to make some tough calls
to stay focused on our global plans and timelines. That
means shifting our resources towards retail expansion and other internal priorities.
This was never about Sarah personally. We were super proud
(12:14):
of what we created, and we offered for her to
continue the project under her own brand with our support
that was unfortunately declined, which we respect. We gether this
might be disappointing to some of you, and that was
never the intention. We were always back creators and we
genuinely wish Sarah all the best.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Well, when you look at both of the statements from
Who Is Elijah and Sarah's Day, both are quite professional.
They've been pretty reserved in what they've said.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, I think that's why there's a bit of confusion
around this situation because a lot of people are like,
hang on, Sarah didn't really even say anything that bad.
She just said she was disappointed that the collaboration was over,
and that's because all the shit went down in the
comments underneath the real So unsurprisingly, Sarah's reel went absolutely nuts.
At the time of recording, It's got over one point
two million views, it's got over twenty thousand likes, over
(13:02):
five hundred comments, and two thousand send on, so obviously
a lot of people were talking about it. But the
comment section turned into an absolute free for all for
Sarah's fans to slam Who Is Elijah, and Sarah was
also getting in on the actions, so she did not
hold back. She dropped all these extra details that she
(13:23):
didn't mention in the video, and it was clear just
how angry and upset that she was that this collaboration
has ended. So via the comment section, Sarah revealed that
she only learned that the collaboration was over via an email,
and she said it felt like she was being strung
along for free promotion and content. She also alleged that
she didn't receive a dime for the collaboration and everything
(13:45):
that she did was in good faith because she was
committed to the project.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
She also labeled the situation ikey and wrote, Honestly, it's
not about the money for me. It's about the time
and the sneakiness of it all.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
There were also a lot of comments from Sarah's fans
telling her to make her own perfume, and Sarah responded
saying literally this. I've been talking to Kurt about it.
So I wonder if we will see something from Sarah.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That's ironic because Who Is Elijah said in their statement
that they were willing to help Sarah do this, but
it just wasn't under the Who Is Elijah brand.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I don't know why if you were so invested
in this collaboration and you were really happy with the
product that you had created. Why you wouldn't take that route.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, the thing with Sarah is the only in house
thing they've done is their app Sonny, and that end
they actually shut it down. I think she's had more
success doing stuff with other brands like White Fox. Foutigue
is quite clear that.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Sarah is worried that the brand are going to re
release her scent under a different name, because she told
a follower in the comments that she has kept a
sample of the scent just in case they do that,
and she added honestly, I would expect nothing less from
them at this rate. She also complained about the brand
taking valuable time away from her and her kids. She wrote,
(14:58):
it's about the time wasted and robbed when I was
having someone else hold my baby so I could work
on it. Time is the most valuable commodity truly now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
One follower's comment even ended up triggering a war of
words between Sarah and the CEO of who is Elijah So.
One of Sarah's followers wrote, seems pretty deceitful and sneaky.
They just used you for free promotion if you signed
a contract, can you sue them? Sarah liked this comment
and replied, Unfortunately, I just started making content in good
faith because I was so committed and excited. Contract and
(15:28):
wrongdoing is only really useful once the product has launched.
Now this is when who was Elijah's CEO, Adam Burris,
entered the chat, and as we mentioned earlier, Adam is
also Raquel's husband, So he wrote, Sarah, this is absolute
rubbish and you know it. You are fueling this with
a false narrative. Sarah replied saying, would you like me
to forward you the email my team was blindsided with
(15:50):
after two years of working on this collab. Now, Adam
wrote back, things happen in business. Some things work and
some things don't, and we move on.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
That is business.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
We apologize for the change in direction and offered to
still do the perfume under your own brand, completely your own,
which we fully supported, which was immediately rejected. I won't
stand and what she guessed like your own followers here
and talk badly about my team. I would tread carefully.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Now this is where Kurt, Sarah's husband, entered the chat.
He fired up, writing to Adam, tread careful as you
threaten a woman. Come on, mate, Sarah hasn't said a
single bad thing about the two of you, the team,
or the brand. She has simply let her community know
that it's not going ahead, which, considering she has shared
pretty much every aspect of her and my family's life
for the last eleven years, is a pretty normal thing.
(16:38):
Sarah then wrote a three hundred word response back to Adam.
I didn't actually know Instagram allowed comments that long, so
to summarize it, she said that she was flexible when
they pushed out the launch by twelve months, but asked
for Adam to put himself in her shoes, as she'd
been promoting and working on this collaboration for over twenty
four months. She wrote for Bombshell News like that, I
(16:59):
would have really appreciated a call or even an email
to me, or at least be c seed in it.
Not an email to one of my team members after
being ghosted and us following up what was happening with
the collab. Not an email to one of my team
members after being ghosted and us following up what was
happening with the collab. She also claimed she'd been told
nothing except that they were going in a different direction.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So Adam replied to Sarah. He wrote We also put
an enormous amount into it, hundreds of hours and thousands
of dollars, and things change. It's the way things go.
To be super clear, I don't have an issue with
the post. I have an issue with you telling your
followers we used you for promotional content and the way
you were controlling the narrative in your comments. It is
misleading to everyone and damages your reputation and ours. Now
(17:45):
another person chimed in, claiming Sarah hadn't been compensated for
the time she invested in promoting Who Was Elijah, and
Adam replied, you are wrong now.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
While Raquel remained quiet in Sarah's comment section, she shared
a photo of a glass of wine with the caption
cheers to all the keyboard warriors in my dms, and
then an hour and a half later, she followed up,
writing on her Instagram story, it's giving tantrum now. Not
only did Sarah's fans flood Raquel's dms, but they also
(18:16):
left negative comments on the who is Elijah Instagram account,
and on Saturday, Raquel released her own response on her
Instagram story. Let's listen to some of what she said.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I wasn't going to respond to this in this way.
But when someone with a huge platform starts encouraging bullying
and spreading a false narrative, I have to say something.
We ended a contract well within the agreed terms. There
was no breach, and yes, the decision to end the
(18:47):
collaboration was sent from me personally to the other party
via my email. Just to make that clear. That doesn't
make it dramatic, it makes it responsible. I left the
door open in email for further discussion, but what I
received in response was unprofessional.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Raquel went on to say that Sarah's claim that she
worked on the project for two years simply wasn't true,
and she said that her first text exchange with Sarah
was in May twenty twenty four, which was when the
project truly began, and their last discussion was in April
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8 (19:22):
She then said this, we were responsible for everything, including fragrance, sampling,
product manufacturer logistics compliance, and global product registration.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
The other party's involvement stopped at the sampling stage.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
We had not yet.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Begun any joint marketing outside of what they independently chose
to share on their own socials, which was not instructed
or directed by us. From our perspective, I could count
the hours worked on this project on one, maybe two hands.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Raquel explained that her move to London at the start
of the year naturally caused delays with the project, and
went on to s say this.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I've kept quiet out of respect, but what's being said
now is deeply misleading and it is harmful. What I'm
seeing in the comments and encouraged in the comments is disgusting.
This was a business decision made professionally and with fairness.
We offered for the project to continue under the party's
own brand without full support. That offer was declined. There's
(20:25):
no scandal here, no villain, just a strategic decision for
the future of my business, and it is one that
I fully stand by. What is truly sad is seeing
how easily people fall into parasocial loyalty, blindly defending someone
they don't actually know, have most likely never met, or
(20:45):
never will meet, and in doing so are bullying another
woman and another brand without facts. It is also easy
to control the narrative or a narrative when you have
the louder microphone, but louder does not mean truthful. I
am also a mother. I support a team of thirty
women and my family. This isn't just internet noise. It's damaging,
(21:10):
it's harmful to a lot of people, and it's really hurtful.
This is my first time running a business. Yes, I
am still learning, and this has been a massive learning
moment for me and one that I will not soon forget.
I will do what should have been done from the beginning,
and that is to turn off the comments. And I
(21:32):
want to make one thing extremely clear. As a woman,
as a mother, I do not support women being pinned
against other women or cyberbullying. I don't want to speak
about this matter any further. There's a lot more going
on in the world that needs attention. I wish everyone
the best and thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
What did you make of Raquel's response.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I think influencers and business owners need to take no
as she provided a masterclass and how to respond to controversy.
She was eloquent, classy, respectful. You'll notice that she didn't
name Sarah. She also made the noble decision to turn
the comments off on her video to let her words
speak for themselves and avoid drama in the comments, which
(22:18):
I think was a fantastic move. I agree with Raquel's
sentiments about Sarah's intentions with posting that video because she said,
you know, she was encouraging her fans to talk badly
about who was Elijah. That is a hundred percent what
the intent of that video was. She knew that if
she put it out, her stance would go after the brand,
(22:39):
and it's not the first time she has done it,
so she has a history of weaponizing her followers against brands.
If you cast in my back to twenty twenty, a
small homework company called Sabi and Soul ended up shutting
down after Sarah put them on blast on Instagram story,
and it was all over a Moroccan pillowcase that she ordered,
so she claimed at the time that they ripped her
(23:00):
off and said that she didn't want her followers to
fall victim to them. It actually turned out that the
website wouldn't allow pillow cases to be purchased without the insert,
so when Sarah made her order, the website's e commerce
system automatically processed a refund and canceled the order, so
the money was never actually taken from Sarah's account, but
(23:21):
the damage was already done and Sabi and Soul ended
up going out of business. Due to the backlash they
received from Sarah's fans. So Sarah is definitely aware of
the power that she holds with her followers, and I
think it was a deliberate move to punish who is
larger for ending this collaboration.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I think it was quite a strange collaboration to begin with,
because Sarah's not really known in the beauty space. She
does have a huge following, but it makes more sense
for her to be collaborating with brands on fitness stuff
as opposed to a beauty product.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I think that's why she's so upset about it, because
she saw a lot of status with being a celebrity
that has their own fragrance, and I think that's why
she was putting so much extra her effort and attention
into it because it was something that really excited her.
And you can tell that she's absolutely devastated that the
collaboration is over. It's very natural, but it doesn't mean
that you can go lash out in your comments section,
(24:11):
because when you take the emotion out of this situation
and look at the facts, it was a strategic business
decision from who was Elijah. It wasn't personal. This is
a business that is currently undertaking a global expansion after
signing this landmark deal in the UK, you know, doing
a collaboration with an Australian influencer clearly no longer serve
their new business model. And as I said, I can
(24:33):
sympathize with Sarah that it would be really disappointing, but
she's gone about it in completely the wrong way.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, it's a really terrible move by Sarah because at
the time it might have felt great to put them
on blast, but all she's now done is put a
red line through her name for brand deals because people
are not going to want to work with someone who
is that volatile.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And it's really interesting timing as there's been a lot
of talk about Sarah severing tithes with a lot of
her long term partners. From all accounts from Sarah, it
doesn't appear that they've ended on good terms either. While
she has never made an official announcement video like she
did with Who Was Elijah, she's made cryptic statements again
in the comment section of her posts when she's been
(25:13):
asked about these partnerships by followers, and she's previously commented
to a follower that she doesn't feel comfortable supporting Trepeka anymore.
And I find it interesting now seeing that she did
this whole reel about why she's not working with Who
Was Elijah and she felt like she had to explain
it to her followers. But hang on, you were the
face of Tripeka and you've never made an official statement
about that partnership ending Who Was Elijah.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I think Sarah should have just stopped after she posted
the initial video because I watched it and said, oh,
that's pretty reasonable. And she should have turned the comments
off because her responding in the comments section it just
made her look really immature.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh unprofessional. And I find a lot of her commentary
quite unprofessional on Instagram. Seems like she thinks she can
just say whatever she wants in there and people won't
really notice, only the people that really dig into them.
And in terms of her other sponsorship deals, within this
post about Who Is Elijah, she even commented on her
(26:10):
relationship with some of her former partners. So a follower wrote,
can you talk about Loving Earth? I can't get their
products anywhere. So that's a brand that she worked with
for years back in the day. I remember going and
buying Loving Earth chocolate because she spoke it up so
much that it tasted terrible anyway. She responded saying, honestly, babe,
I haven't worked for them for like seven years or something.
(26:32):
They had an entire company restructure and majority of the
staff left, including me. That's all I really feel comfortable saying.
Another person also wrote more White Fox collapse, and she wrote,
I love my White Fox fan, but I'm just focused
on other areas right now. Pretty interesting because White Fox
have all of her active wear on super Sail at
the moment, it seems like they're clearing it all out.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Well, maybe White Fox was smart enough to get her
to sign a non disclosure agreement.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Also talking about contracts, let's not forget Sarah's day. She
touts herself as being a huge businesswoman. I mean, she's
made a lot of money. She's incredibly successful. Well, she
also runs a creative agency with her husband. Yeah, why
was there no contract in place? And she seemed to
be blaming who was Elijah? But it's on her to
make sure there was a contract protecting her.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I find it very difficult to believe that Sarah would
spend two years, as she says, working on a project
without signing a contract. Yeah, Like, that's just bad business.
It seems like who is Elijah have said that she
did sign a contract. What I think is the contract
probably ran out that there was an expiry day on it,
and they were like, okay, we'll reassess at that point,
and they decided that they no longer wanted to do
(27:37):
the collaboration, which was well within their riots.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I did see a lot of comments where people were saying, oh,
you're better off without them, and this is in God's plan, etc.
And Sarah was saying, yeah, yeah, it's so good. I thought, well,
if it's so good and you're happy about this falling through,
then why are you being so narky in the comment section?
Just move on.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I think her emotional response to this shows that it
is more an ego thing. I think she's made a
lot of money off her cookbook, but she's always been
known to have these long term partnerships ever since she
started on YouTube. She was originally so great at incorporating
these deals into her videos and making them seem really
organic and that she really liked the brand. And I
(28:19):
think at the moment, she's in that stage where she's
trying to get new brands on board for a long
period of time, and she thought that was going to
be the case with who was Elijah? And I think
she thought it was a real win because it's actually
a very cool perfume brand that a lot of people
were surprised that she was working with. And I think
this has been a complete fracture to her ego.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, but if you think about it as well, she's
no longer getting that income from White Fox Boutique, it's
not coming from any of the other brands that she's
severed ties with, and she doesn't have the Sunny Up anymore.
So maybe she's reacted so badly because it is affecting
her bottom line.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Now, Oh, there's definitely a financial element involved there. I'm
just so intrigued if Sarah and Kurt are going to
try and make their own perfume.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Well, there were quite a lot of Sarah's followers saying
you need to make this and I would buy it. Kate,
would you buy Sarah's Stay's perfume?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Look, I'm not proud to admit it, but I have
purchased from Sarah's day before and I wouldn't again.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, I think that's where we're going to leave things today.
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Outspoken.
If you did enjoy the show, we would love if
you could go and leave us a five star review
because it really helps us out.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
And if you do love our content and want to
hear more from us, we drop a bonus episode to
our subscribers on a Thursday.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
We're also bringing.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You part three of our Tammy Hembrew Deep Dive on Friday.
That is the matt Pool era and I'm very excited
to share that with you. This podcast was recorded on
the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes.
We pay respect to elders past and present
Hello, and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
Amy Torber and coming up on today's show, we dive
deep on Sarah's Day's canceled Perfume collaboration drama for first.
Tammy Hembro and Matt Zakowski are both in their self
improvement eras post breakup, and it was rather awkward, Kate,
(00:24):
because they almost posted simultaneously about the things they're doing
to move on.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, and I felt really sorry for Matt because Tammy's
method definitely trumped his. So she was away in New
Zealand and she ended up bungee jumping from a one
hundred and thirty six meter high mountain and she shared
the incredible vision to her Instagram story with the caption
to me, this wasn't a jump, it was a release.
Something about free falling forces you to let go of
(00:50):
fear of control of literally everything weighing you down. Man,
did it feel good? Best day ever?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Look, it'd be pretty hard for Matt to top that,
but he has been finding himself again by eating solo
in restaurants, and he uploaded a video of him eating chicken,
but completely confused his followers by writing the following caption,
time to date and find myself again.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I saw this and was like, oh God, he's really
shot himself in the foot, because the way some people
could read it sounded like he was saying that he's
ready to date again and that's how he's going to
find himself. However, I think we all knew that he
actually meant that he was going to start dating himself
and taking himself out, because that's what Moore matched up
with the vision, and not long after, Matt deleted the
(01:34):
original story and corrected himself, writing time to date myself
in capitals and find myself in capitals again.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Did you see that video he shared of himself at
one of those smash rooms.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yes, I did.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I found it super interesting. Obviously there's a lot going
on with him, and it is a great way to
get your I suppose anger out.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Yeah, well he captained it probably needed a hug.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
But I notice he's also been sharing a few cryptic quotes,
kind of jumping on TERMMI and him Bro's bandwagon a
little bit. He was watching Friends and avid Friends' viewers
will know the scene, so he posted a picture of Ross,
and it was when Rachel started dating Joey and they
all did the double date, and Ross goes, I'm fine.
He posted that. He said that was what he responds
(02:17):
to wheneveryone asked him how he's doing.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
I saw a photo of him lying on a couch
with his sister's golden retriever, and that one made me
feel quite sorry for him. Do you think these posts
are actually working towards public sympathy.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
A little bit? I mean, the captain said, it's hard
to feel sad when this guy is giving you hugs,
and I suppose it really humanized him because it's easy
to look at Tammy and Matt as characters because their
relationship really has played out online and it seems like
a soap opera, like you can't actually believe that this
was a real relationship. But at the end of the day,
(02:49):
there are two real people in the middle of this,
and they obviously actually did love each other.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yeah, and we still don't know what actually has happened
where yet to really hear from Matt's side of the story.
I think a lot of people have jumped to the
conclusion and they think that Matt was the person in
the wrong, but this hasn't yet been confirmed by either
Tammy or Matt. We've only seen comments or videos alluding
to something that's gone down.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Well.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I think Matt is going to share his side of
the story very soon because I tuned into his podcast
Where's Your Head At, and his co host Anna McAvoy
has been on maternity leave and they bolk recorded a
bunch of episodes and she was meant to be away
for six weeks. However, on last Tuesday's episode, she announced
at the start of the episode that this would be
(03:33):
their last pre recorded episode and that they were back
next week, which is actually today the podcast drops. So
I think Matt is most likely going to be sharing
his side of the story on that episode.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It'd be very interesting to hear what he has to
say about it. I wonder if he's spoken to a
publicist to get some advice on how he should share
his story.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
I think that would benefit him greatly. While he does
have a podcast, I think he lacks media training. I mean,
we saw that in the episode where he's spoke about
the Grand Prix cheating scandal, and you know, it really
wasn't good for him.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
If you were hired by Matt, what would be your advice.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, I think we're in an interesting time for influencers
because previously everyone's like, Okay, you share your life online,
you earn a lot of money, and that means you
forfeit your private life to us and we can say
anything we want about you online. However, the tide is
turning and influencers are calling out their trolls. Indy Clinton's
got a PI. She is taking some of her trolls
(04:31):
to court. We've recently seen the tattle Life owner unmasked.
You know, there is a reckoning for influencers and trolls
at the moment. So I think that he will go
down the route of placing himself as a victim. I'm
not saying he's not, because you know, he has been
trolled very badly, and I think he will probably open
up about how detrimental the whole relationship has been to
(04:53):
his mental health and humanize himself.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
I wonder, though, if public sympathy is waning towards influencers
who do discussed trolling, especially Matt, because a lot of
people think that he is the reason why he and
Tammy split up.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
At the end of the day, if I was Matt
the pr manager. I would say, keep it brief and
keep it respectful. Don't do some one hour long episode
that goes into all the dirty details of the breakup
as much as I want to hear it.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Yeah, do the Molly May where you're like, I just
respect this person so much that I'm not going to
speak ill about them.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
And they get back with it and I'm.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
John yea nah nah. But let people read into it.
Sometimes saying less is actually saying more.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Yeah, I agree, it's funny. I came across the TikTok
of Tammy's that I wanted to quickly talk to you
about Amy. So she did a brand collaboration with a
jewelry company and it was clearly pre recorded because she
was wearing her engagement ring and wedding band in it.
And it got really awkward because at the start of
the video she said this.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
So I'm not someone who owns a whole lot of
nice story. So I thought it was time to add
some really nice pieces to my collection. I wanted something
I could pass down to Sas or Posey, so I
went to Cullen Jewelry.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
All I could think about after watching this was you
don't have a lot of nice jewelry. You have three
incredible engagement rings. And then it got me thinking, Okay,
if she kept her engagement ring from Rhys Hawkins, could
she pass that down to Saski or and if she
kept the engagement ring from Matt Paul, could posey have it?
Like would you retiquate around that?
Speaker 5 (06:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
I don't know if I was her child, if I'd
want the engagement ring from the failed relationship.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
But as from their dad and they're absolutely beautiful rings.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yeah, But normally when someone passes down their mother's wedding
ring or engagement ring, it's been from a very happy marriage.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Maybe Tammy's grandchildren that will be fighting over all the
engaging rings.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
So today's meeting is with who Is Elijah?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
Sarah's Day has announced her collaboration with fragrance brand who
Is Elijah Is Over the og influencer was set to
launch a personal perfume with the Australian Fragrance House and
had been documenting the process to where one point two
million of followers. Sarah shared the news on Friday, and
it didn't take long for things to get messy. At
the time of recording, the real has had over one
(07:08):
point two million views. Now, Kate, before we way into
the drama, can you introduce the main players?
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, so let's start with who is Elijah. It's not
just some small perfume brand. This is a business that
is valued at twenty million dollars and has recently signed
a landmark deal with one of the UK's biggest retailers.
So the founder's name is Raquel Boris and she launched
the business back in twenty eighteen after being inspired by
(07:35):
a unisex perfume that she came across on a trip
to Coachella. As for Sarah, regular listeners will be fully acquainted,
but for those unfamiliar, she is a thirty two year
old Sydney based influencer who's been sharing her life online
for over eleven years. So she started out sharing health
and fitness content but now shares more lifestyle content as
(07:55):
a mum of three young children. She also is a
successful business woman in her own right, so in addition
to her social media career, she is a best selling
cookbook author, selles workout guides, used to run a recipe
app called Sonny, and co owns a creative agency with
her husband Kurt.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
So now we're up to speed. I want to get
into the drama because on Friday, Sarah announced it an
Instagram reel that her collaboration with who Is Elijah was over.
So she claimed she'd been working on the collaboration for
two years after the brand reached out to her to
make a fragrance. Now, Sarah said she felt like she
owed her followers an update as she had documented the
(08:34):
entire process. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 6 (08:37):
I just wanted to sit down and update you guys
on something you've been asking me a lot about, and
that is my collaboration with who Is Elijah. So two
years ago they reached out to me to make a
fragrance with them, and as you know, I have documented
the entire process. You guys have come along on the
journey and we were all really excited. And unfortunately it's
no longer happening. And I'm sure you're asking why, and honestly,
(09:01):
we are asking the same question.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
I don't have the answers for you. Unfortunately. I know
that might sound really confusing.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
Or frustrating that I don't have more to give you,
but yeah, I'm just as disheartened. I guess as you guys,
and I was really excited about this collaboration, but it's
just not happening. That is, unfortunately the update. However, I
am working on a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
Other exciting things, so let's just focus on those and
forget that ever happened.
Speaker 7 (09:27):
I should vibe it from my mind, wipe it from
all of our memories.
Speaker 3 (09:31):
Okay, get all things, don't that's love that. It's fine.
We're fine. We're fine. That's fine. You guys, get it, Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
As soon as Sarah dropped this news, I race back
to her old reels to watch what she had shared
about this collaboration. So back in December, she filmed herself
getting ready for a meeting with Who Is Elijah, and
in the video, she revealed that the team had already
signed off on the scent, the name of the scent,
and the color of the fragrance, and that she was
(10:04):
going to pitch a campaign idea. Now, in terms of
the name of the perfume, it was actually Sarah's hairstylist,
Kirby Lago, who came up with it.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So Sarah has.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Featured her hairstylist a lot on her Instagram because she
recently got hair extensions it also won a promotion with them,
so I was like, oh, okay, that's interesting. This is
what Sarah had to say.
Speaker 7 (10:27):
So in terms of the name, probably came up with
a list of like, I don't know, one hundred and
twenty names and I was like going back and forth, but.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Like nothing was sticking out to me.
Speaker 7 (10:36):
And the next day I had a hair appointment with Kirby,
my hairstylist, and she's actually friends with Raquel, the founder
of Who Is Elijah.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
I would love to know where Kirby stands on this.
How awkward for her to be in the middle of
this with two of her friends. It's interesting because on
Sunday night, Sarah was talking about how she's getting her
hair done with Kirby, so obviously Sarah and her are
still friends. It gets even more awkward because Sarah, Raquel,
and Kirby are all from Cranulla. But as I mentioned earlier,
(11:05):
Raquel recently moved to London, which probably makes it a
little bit less awkward.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, but Sarah's quite well known for having these friendship
bust ups as well.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
Yeah, There's been a few best friends that have featured
on her social media that have just disappeared like Taika
who used to work with her she was a bridesmaid.
Then there was also Beth, who was friends with Kurt's
friend Brenton, who was on Big Brother. Yeah, they they're
no longer friends, so it's all very interesting.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
I'm sure they've got tales to tell.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
Well. A few hours after Sarah's announcement, Raquel Boris released
her own statement via her personal Instagram, which was then
later shared to her business's social media and in it
she wrote, Hi all, I've seen the video going around
and just wanted to clear a few things up. We
honestly have so much love and respect for Sarah. It
was such an exciting project to work on together. But
(11:53):
the decision to pause the collab wasn't random or without reason.
As who was Elijah grows into international markets, Hello Europe
twenty twenty six, We've had to make some tough calls
to stay focused on our global plans and timelines. That
means shifting our resources towards retail expansion and other internal priorities.
This was never about Sarah personally. We were super proud
(12:14):
of what we created, and we offered for her to
continue the project under her own brand with our support
that was unfortunately declined, which we respect. We gether this
might be disappointing to some of you, and that was
never the intention. We were always back creators and we
genuinely wish Sarah all the best.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Well, when you look at both of the statements from
Who Is Elijah and Sarah's Day, both are quite professional.
They've been pretty reserved in what they've said.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Yeah, I think that's why there's a bit of confusion
around this situation because a lot of people are like,
hang on, Sarah didn't really even say anything that bad.
She just said she was disappointed that the collaboration was over,
and that's because all the shit went down in the
comments underneath the real So unsurprisingly, Sarah's reel went absolutely nuts.
At the time of recording, It's got over one point
two million views, it's got over twenty thousand likes, over
(13:02):
five hundred comments, and two thousand send on, so obviously
a lot of people were talking about it. But the
comment section turned into an absolute free for all for
Sarah's fans to slam Who Is Elijah, and Sarah was
also getting in on the actions, so she did not
hold back. She dropped all these extra details that she
(13:23):
didn't mention in the video, and it was clear just
how angry and upset that she was that this collaboration
has ended. So via the comment section, Sarah revealed that
she only learned that the collaboration was over via an email,
and she said it felt like she was being strung
along for free promotion and content. She also alleged that
she didn't receive a dime for the collaboration and everything
(13:45):
that she did was in good faith because she was
committed to the project.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
She also labeled the situation ikey and wrote, Honestly, it's
not about the money for me. It's about the time
and the sneakiness of it all.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
There were also a lot of comments from Sarah's fans
telling her to make her own perfume, and Sarah responded
saying literally this. I've been talking to Kurt about it.
So I wonder if we will see something from Sarah.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
That's ironic because Who Is Elijah said in their statement
that they were willing to help Sarah do this, but
it just wasn't under the Who Is Elijah brand.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, I don't know why if you were so invested
in this collaboration and you were really happy with the
product that you had created. Why you wouldn't take that route.
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, the thing with Sarah is the only in house
thing they've done is their app Sonny, and that end
they actually shut it down. I think she's had more
success doing stuff with other brands like White Fox. Foutigue
is quite clear that.
Speaker 2 (14:37):
Sarah is worried that the brand are going to re
release her scent under a different name, because she told
a follower in the comments that she has kept a
sample of the scent just in case they do that,
and she added honestly, I would expect nothing less from
them at this rate. She also complained about the brand
taking valuable time away from her and her kids. She wrote,
(14:58):
it's about the time wasted and robbed when I was
having someone else hold my baby so I could work
on it. Time is the most valuable commodity truly now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
One follower's comment even ended up triggering a war of
words between Sarah and the CEO of who is Elijah So.
One of Sarah's followers wrote, seems pretty deceitful and sneaky.
They just used you for free promotion if you signed
a contract, can you sue them? Sarah liked this comment
and replied, Unfortunately, I just started making content in good
faith because I was so committed and excited. Contract and
(15:28):
wrongdoing is only really useful once the product has launched.
Now this is when who was Elijah's CEO, Adam Burris,
entered the chat, and as we mentioned earlier, Adam is
also Raquel's husband, So he wrote, Sarah, this is absolute
rubbish and you know it. You are fueling this with
a false narrative. Sarah replied saying, would you like me
to forward you the email my team was blindsided with
(15:50):
after two years of working on this collab. Now, Adam
wrote back, things happen in business. Some things work and
some things don't, and we move on.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
That is business.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
We apologize for the change in direction and offered to
still do the perfume under your own brand, completely your own,
which we fully supported, which was immediately rejected. I won't
stand and what she guessed like your own followers here
and talk badly about my team. I would tread carefully.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
Now this is where Kurt, Sarah's husband, entered the chat.
He fired up, writing to Adam, tread careful as you
threaten a woman. Come on, mate, Sarah hasn't said a
single bad thing about the two of you, the team,
or the brand. She has simply let her community know
that it's not going ahead, which, considering she has shared
pretty much every aspect of her and my family's life
for the last eleven years, is a pretty normal thing.
(16:38):
Sarah then wrote a three hundred word response back to Adam.
I didn't actually know Instagram allowed comments that long, so
to summarize it, she said that she was flexible when
they pushed out the launch by twelve months, but asked
for Adam to put himself in her shoes, as she'd
been promoting and working on this collaboration for over twenty
four months. She wrote for Bombshell News like that, I
(16:59):
would have really appreciated a call or even an email
to me, or at least be c seed in it.
Not an email to one of my team members after
being ghosted and us following up what was happening with
the collab. Not an email to one of my team
members after being ghosted and us following up what was
happening with the collab. She also claimed she'd been told
nothing except that they were going in a different direction.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So Adam replied to Sarah. He wrote We also put
an enormous amount into it, hundreds of hours and thousands
of dollars, and things change. It's the way things go.
To be super clear, I don't have an issue with
the post. I have an issue with you telling your
followers we used you for promotional content and the way
you were controlling the narrative in your comments. It is
misleading to everyone and damages your reputation and ours. Now
(17:45):
another person chimed in, claiming Sarah hadn't been compensated for
the time she invested in promoting Who Was Elijah, and
Adam replied, you are wrong now.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
While Raquel remained quiet in Sarah's comment section, she shared
a photo of a glass of wine with the caption
cheers to all the keyboard warriors in my dms, and
then an hour and a half later, she followed up,
writing on her Instagram story, it's giving tantrum now. Not
only did Sarah's fans flood Raquel's dms, but they also
(18:16):
left negative comments on the who is Elijah Instagram account,
and on Saturday, Raquel released her own response on her
Instagram story. Let's listen to some of what she said.
Speaker 5 (18:26):
I wasn't going to respond to this in this way.
But when someone with a huge platform starts encouraging bullying
and spreading a false narrative, I have to say something.
We ended a contract well within the agreed terms. There
was no breach, and yes, the decision to end the
(18:47):
collaboration was sent from me personally to the other party
via my email. Just to make that clear. That doesn't
make it dramatic, it makes it responsible. I left the
door open in email for further discussion, but what I
received in response was unprofessional.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Raquel went on to say that Sarah's claim that she
worked on the project for two years simply wasn't true,
and she said that her first text exchange with Sarah
was in May twenty twenty four, which was when the
project truly began, and their last discussion was in April
twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8 (19:22):
She then said this, we were responsible for everything, including fragrance, sampling,
product manufacturer logistics compliance, and global product registration.
Speaker 5 (19:33):
The other party's involvement stopped at the sampling stage.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
We had not yet.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
Begun any joint marketing outside of what they independently chose
to share on their own socials, which was not instructed
or directed by us. From our perspective, I could count
the hours worked on this project on one, maybe two hands.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Raquel explained that her move to London at the start
of the year naturally caused delays with the project, and
went on to s say this.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
I've kept quiet out of respect, but what's being said
now is deeply misleading and it is harmful. What I'm
seeing in the comments and encouraged in the comments is disgusting.
This was a business decision made professionally and with fairness.
We offered for the project to continue under the party's
own brand without full support. That offer was declined. There's
(20:25):
no scandal here, no villain, just a strategic decision for
the future of my business, and it is one that
I fully stand by. What is truly sad is seeing
how easily people fall into parasocial loyalty, blindly defending someone
they don't actually know, have most likely never met, or
(20:45):
never will meet, and in doing so are bullying another
woman and another brand without facts. It is also easy
to control the narrative or a narrative when you have
the louder microphone, but louder does not mean truthful. I
am also a mother. I support a team of thirty
women and my family. This isn't just internet noise. It's damaging,
(21:10):
it's harmful to a lot of people, and it's really hurtful.
This is my first time running a business. Yes, I
am still learning, and this has been a massive learning
moment for me and one that I will not soon forget.
I will do what should have been done from the beginning,
and that is to turn off the comments. And I
(21:32):
want to make one thing extremely clear. As a woman,
as a mother, I do not support women being pinned
against other women or cyberbullying. I don't want to speak
about this matter any further. There's a lot more going
on in the world that needs attention. I wish everyone
the best and thank you.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
What did you make of Raquel's response.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
I think influencers and business owners need to take no
as she provided a masterclass and how to respond to controversy.
She was eloquent, classy, respectful. You'll notice that she didn't
name Sarah. She also made the noble decision to turn
the comments off on her video to let her words
speak for themselves and avoid drama in the comments, which
(22:18):
I think was a fantastic move. I agree with Raquel's
sentiments about Sarah's intentions with posting that video because she said,
you know, she was encouraging her fans to talk badly
about who was Elijah. That is a hundred percent what
the intent of that video was. She knew that if
she put it out, her stance would go after the brand,
(22:39):
and it's not the first time she has done it,
so she has a history of weaponizing her followers against brands.
If you cast in my back to twenty twenty, a
small homework company called Sabi and Soul ended up shutting
down after Sarah put them on blast on Instagram story,
and it was all over a Moroccan pillowcase that she ordered,
so she claimed at the time that they ripped her
(23:00):
off and said that she didn't want her followers to
fall victim to them. It actually turned out that the
website wouldn't allow pillow cases to be purchased without the insert,
so when Sarah made her order, the website's e commerce
system automatically processed a refund and canceled the order, so
the money was never actually taken from Sarah's account, but
(23:21):
the damage was already done and Sabi and Soul ended
up going out of business. Due to the backlash they
received from Sarah's fans. So Sarah is definitely aware of
the power that she holds with her followers, and I
think it was a deliberate move to punish who is
larger for ending this collaboration.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I think it was quite a strange collaboration to begin with,
because Sarah's not really known in the beauty space. She
does have a huge following, but it makes more sense
for her to be collaborating with brands on fitness stuff
as opposed to a beauty product.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (23:51):
I think that's why she's so upset about it, because
she saw a lot of status with being a celebrity
that has their own fragrance, and I think that's why
she was putting so much extra her effort and attention
into it because it was something that really excited her.
And you can tell that she's absolutely devastated that the
collaboration is over. It's very natural, but it doesn't mean
that you can go lash out in your comments section,
(24:11):
because when you take the emotion out of this situation
and look at the facts, it was a strategic business
decision from who was Elijah. It wasn't personal. This is
a business that is currently undertaking a global expansion after
signing this landmark deal in the UK, you know, doing
a collaboration with an Australian influencer clearly no longer serve
their new business model. And as I said, I can
(24:33):
sympathize with Sarah that it would be really disappointing, but
she's gone about it in completely the wrong way.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Yeah, it's a really terrible move by Sarah because at
the time it might have felt great to put them
on blast, but all she's now done is put a
red line through her name for brand deals because people
are not going to want to work with someone who
is that volatile.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
And it's really interesting timing as there's been a lot
of talk about Sarah severing tithes with a lot of
her long term partners. From all accounts from Sarah, it
doesn't appear that they've ended on good terms either. While
she has never made an official announcement video like she
did with Who Was Elijah, she's made cryptic statements again
in the comment section of her posts when she's been
(25:13):
asked about these partnerships by followers, and she's previously commented
to a follower that she doesn't feel comfortable supporting Trepeka anymore.
And I find it interesting now seeing that she did
this whole reel about why she's not working with Who
Was Elijah and she felt like she had to explain
it to her followers. But hang on, you were the
face of Tripeka and you've never made an official statement
about that partnership ending Who Was Elijah.
Speaker 1 (25:35):
I think Sarah should have just stopped after she posted
the initial video because I watched it and said, oh,
that's pretty reasonable. And she should have turned the comments
off because her responding in the comments section it just
made her look really immature.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Oh unprofessional. And I find a lot of her commentary
quite unprofessional on Instagram. Seems like she thinks she can
just say whatever she wants in there and people won't
really notice, only the people that really dig into them.
And in terms of her other sponsorship deals, within this
post about Who Is Elijah, she even commented on her
(26:10):
relationship with some of her former partners. So a follower wrote,
can you talk about Loving Earth? I can't get their
products anywhere. So that's a brand that she worked with
for years back in the day. I remember going and
buying Loving Earth chocolate because she spoke it up so
much that it tasted terrible anyway. She responded saying, honestly, babe,
I haven't worked for them for like seven years or something.
(26:32):
They had an entire company restructure and majority of the
staff left, including me. That's all I really feel comfortable saying.
Another person also wrote more White Fox collapse, and she wrote,
I love my White Fox fan, but I'm just focused
on other areas right now. Pretty interesting because White Fox
have all of her active wear on super Sail at
the moment, it seems like they're clearing it all out.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Well, maybe White Fox was smart enough to get her
to sign a non disclosure agreement.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Also talking about contracts, let's not forget Sarah's day. She
touts herself as being a huge businesswoman. I mean, she's
made a lot of money. She's incredibly successful. Well, she
also runs a creative agency with her husband. Yeah, why
was there no contract in place? And she seemed to
be blaming who was Elijah? But it's on her to
make sure there was a contract protecting her.
Speaker 2 (27:16):
I find it very difficult to believe that Sarah would
spend two years, as she says, working on a project
without signing a contract. Yeah, Like, that's just bad business.
It seems like who is Elijah have said that she
did sign a contract. What I think is the contract
probably ran out that there was an expiry day on it,
and they were like, okay, we'll reassess at that point,
and they decided that they no longer wanted to do
(27:37):
the collaboration, which was well within their riots.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
I did see a lot of comments where people were saying, oh,
you're better off without them, and this is in God's plan, etc.
And Sarah was saying, yeah, yeah, it's so good. I thought, well,
if it's so good and you're happy about this falling through,
then why are you being so narky in the comment section?
Just move on.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I think her emotional response to this shows that it
is more an ego thing. I think she's made a
lot of money off her cookbook, but she's always been
known to have these long term partnerships ever since she
started on YouTube. She was originally so great at incorporating
these deals into her videos and making them seem really
organic and that she really liked the brand. And I
(28:19):
think at the moment, she's in that stage where she's
trying to get new brands on board for a long
period of time, and she thought that was going to
be the case with who was Elijah? And I think
she thought it was a real win because it's actually
a very cool perfume brand that a lot of people
were surprised that she was working with. And I think
this has been a complete fracture to her ego.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Yeah, but if you think about it as well, she's
no longer getting that income from White Fox Boutique, it's
not coming from any of the other brands that she's
severed ties with, and she doesn't have the Sunny Up anymore.
So maybe she's reacted so badly because it is affecting
her bottom line.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Now, Oh, there's definitely a financial element involved there. I'm
just so intrigued if Sarah and Kurt are going to
try and make their own perfume.
Speaker 1 (29:03):
Well, there were quite a lot of Sarah's followers saying
you need to make this and I would buy it. Kate,
would you buy Sarah's Stay's perfume?
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Look, I'm not proud to admit it, but I have
purchased from Sarah's day before and I wouldn't again.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
Well, I think that's where we're going to leave things today.
Thank you so much for listening to another episode of Outspoken.
If you did enjoy the show, we would love if
you could go and leave us a five star review
because it really helps us out.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
And if you do love our content and want to
hear more from us, we drop a bonus episode to
our subscribers on a Thursday.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
We're also bringing.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
You part three of our Tammy Hembrew Deep Dive on Friday.
That is the matt Pool era and I'm very excited
to share that with you. This podcast was recorded on
the traditional land of the Ghana people of the Adelaide Planes.
We pay respect to elders past and present
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