The morning of May 9, 2016 I was standing on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange about to go live with an interview when I got a call from my partner Rahul. I could sense in his voice that something was wrong but he wouldn’t tell me what. I asked him point blank — “Rahul, I need to know. What’s up?”
He said, “We’ve been through a lot. But nothing like this. I can’t tell you before your interview or else you’ll walk out. Do the interview and call me right after.”
My stomach was in knots. I got text messages that I nailed the interview from friends and prospective investors who saw it. But I knew something was majorly wrong. I called Rahul and the first words out of my mouth, and I’m still not sure why, were “Who died?”
On the morning of May 9th, what would have been her 3 month anniversary, MakeSpace lost our office manager and my executive assistant, Ladidi “Didi” Garba.
She was loved by all. Here is my letter to the team that I read at a small memorial service we held with her family on Tues, May 10.
“I’m done, Sweet friend”
“I’m doneeee” you’d often say to me.
“Oh Sam… I see you making moves out in LA. You just rollin up to the club like that. I gotchu”
“Didi, real G’s roll in silence like lasagna,” I said.
Then came that big laugh. That loving, kind, warm laugh that could only come from a human being with an especially large heart. One big enough to fill a room of a bunch of people talking all day about storage. “Yo, I’m donnnneeee.”
From the moment I saw your video interview, I knew you were the one. You had this passion and zest for life. This over the top expression. Everything about you was over the top! Your laugh. Your outfits. Your hair. Oh my your hair. Just last week you walked in on Tuesday after your vacation and I heard half the office make a comment immediately about your hair. You smiled at me with that big smirk out the side of your mouth — you knew you were a star. You gave a little touch to your bob and said “thank you, thank you.”
You had an ability to focus on the positive even if there were negatives in your life. You carried yourself with composure, style, and class. I think it was the performer in you. You cared deeply about your friends and the time you took away from work was to be with them — from Miami, to the west coast, to Vegas. You cared about people. And that’s what made you great as our colleague.
You put people in their place when they acted up — and usually it was me. You told me when I was being “hangry” and you put reminders on my calendar to eat and drink water. You were independent and didn’t require any of my involvement. At our one-on-one meeting on Friday you remind ME that I needed to give you a 3 month review. I mostly just think that’s because you KNEW it was going to be glowingly positive. And I sat in that room and told you that there was nothing that I would change and gave you the feedback right then and there. I told you that I quickly realized that you were more like a chief of staff than an “admin.” That you were responsible for running the office and that I was responsible for running the company. You weren’t here to make coffee in the morning and we laughed about that. You had big plans for us as I had big plans for you.
You were like a big sister to all of us — you were always a friend but never a parent — giving us advice but not making us feel like we were ever reprimanded. That’s something I had to work on myself and I learned from you every single day. For example, when I told you how much I hated dishes in the sink you came up with a system to make sure that people cleaned up. And boom. Like that…no more problem. You LOVED organization and efficiency. But you also loved and valued respect, cooperation, collaboration, and most importantly friendship in the workplace.
You were excited for the future of both MakeSpace and your own personal life. You were excited to win the inaugural MakeSpace talent show at the holiday party. To decorate our patio. To remove the previous tenant’s logo from the door and make this place our new home after the shit-storm we went through to be here. To get employees to go out for drinks in the summer on the water down here in the financial district. You were looking forward to your new apartment, to your auditions, and your new life in New York.
You were a brilliant Stanford grad — every bit as comfortable with the academics and the nerds as you were with the cool kids. You had sterling credentials — you could have easily had your own startup or ran your own business. I watched videos of you on YouTube where you shined in front of the crowd and dazzled them with your voice. I wouldn’t have been surprised if you told me in the not too distant future that you got a gig on Broadway. But instead, you graced us with your presence — and that was awesome for us.
You were so smart, hip, and had all these pop culture references that frankly I had to look them up to keep up with you! Remember when I told you that Trey Songz is an investor and asked you if you knew who Trey Songz was?! You looked at me like I asked a Jewish person from New York if he knew what a bagel is.
Your response was… “Oh, Sam…you gotta put on some Trey Songz with the ladies. That’s baby making music.”
I’m done..
I looked up “I’m done” this morning.
Quote: “to explain that something is so funny, but somehow stupid, you were done with the fact that it happened.”
Done with the fact that it happened.
I literally can’t believe it’s been just three months that we worked together. That we finally got into this office but you didn’t get a chance to “Didi it”. That our next team “event” is to mourn your loss and celebrate your life rather than our accomplishments or for team bonding sake. Yet somehow in this moment we will bond around the loss of you. And all of your “Didisms” that I and others will surely miss.
I’m done with the fact that you’re gone, Didi, and I will miss you. We will always remember.
