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In the run up to the 2016 presidential election,

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entrepreneur Audrey Gellman seemed poised

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to lead a revolution. Her

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glossy co-working enclave, The Wing, was

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supposed to be a model for

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feminist social clubs built on activism,

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inclusion, and self-care. But instead, critics

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said The Wing became a glaring

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example of toxic culture and workplace

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discrimination. On each episode of

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Wunderies podcast, The Big Flop, comedians join

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host Misha Brown to chronicle one of

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the biggest pop culture fails of all

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time and try to answer the age-old

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question, who thought this was a good

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idea? Recently, The Big Flop looked

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at The Wing, a feminist social club that

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launched a few weeks before the 2016 election.

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It was supposed to ride a wave of

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girl power, giving women a space to come

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together. But it instead evolved into an extremely

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toxic work environment and one of the biggest

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flops of the era. You're about to hear

0:51

a preview of The Big Flop. While

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you're listening, follow The Big Flop on the Wunderie

0:56

app or wherever you get your podcasts. On

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the fifth floor of a building in

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Manhattan's trendy Soho district,

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Audrey Gellman, a former PR

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strategist and under 30 bigwig,

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holds court with like-minded

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female power players in her

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10,000 square foot clubhouse. Dubbed

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The Wing, Audrey's expansive

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hideaway is a lush

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gathering space neatly decorated

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with brassy surfaces, scholarly tones

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arranged by color, and pink

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couches that are, for

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a lack of a better adjective, labial.

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It's a feminist utopia.

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Women are reading and typing

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everywhere, and they're sipping

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drinks served by nervous but

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smiling baristas. If

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you watch the barista's eyes, you'll

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see they're all looking right up

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at the ceiling, where water droplets

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are starting to gather, threatening to

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fall on the boss. Employees

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nervously check their watches. Audrey

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excuses herself. She always has

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an important meeting to get to. Everyone

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pleasantly waves goodbye as she departs.

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The door shuts behind Audrey. A

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pause. Then staff members

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snap into action, whipping out buckets

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to place around the floor. There's

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another rainstorm coming this afternoon. Now's

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their chance to catch the water from

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the cracked ceiling. The

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buckets are now a routine at

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the Soho Space, which the staff

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refer to as the Rainforest

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Cafe. By now,

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the workplace has gotten too toxic

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to bother your boss about a

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little thing like water damage. Unless

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you want to be the next one crying

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in the break room, the employees go back

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to their regular duties and wait out the

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storm. But oh no, Audrey's

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meeting switched venues. She's

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coming back. Hi. Have

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you the buckets? We

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believe that women deserve a space like this.

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They're super-hyvern. They're not getting breaks

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from their landlord, so they're covering

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a huge rent-nut. Their corporate

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employees recently staged a digital

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walkout, which led to the

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resignation of CEO Audrey Gillman.

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We are on

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a sea of issues.

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From Wondering and At Will

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Media, this is The Big

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Flop, where we chronicle the

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greatest flubs, fails, and blunders

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of all time. I'm your

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host, Misha Brown, social media superstar

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and your wingman at Don't Cross

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a Gay Man. And

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today, we're talking about The Wing,

3:58

a women's only co-working This

4:00

means that we're all just so afraid of the

4:02

business. From

4:14

where deep dive and daily business content

4:16

listen on Wondery, the destination for business

4:18

podcasts. With shows like How I Built

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This, Business Wars, The Best One Yet,

4:23

Business Movers, and many more. Wondery

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means business.