Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Do you have a minute?
Sohla, how do you pronounceturmeric?
It became increasingly frustrating to become a sidekick to people with significantly less experience than me.
Quickly, though, she began developing her own and, as theTest Kitchenuniverse expanded, appearing in videos.
On-camera, El-Waylly was nerdy but kind of punk, with a self-effacing and bone-dry wit.
Working in a place like that, you cant say no, she says.
You never know if another opportunity will come your way.
(A representative for Conde Nast said full-time employees who did video work were paid through their salary.
El-Waylly has said she made $50,000 when first hired.)
After leaving theTest Kitchen,along with many of her co-workers, she has been saying yes to everything.
It doesnt put me in a head-spin or anything, El-Waylly says.
I like it when you walk in a restaurant and all the walk-ins are down and everything is rotten.
That gives me jolts of excitement.
She is unflappable, says Rea.
(Its harder than it sounds: The explanation involves stabilizers or something.)
From an early age,El-Waylly was in the kitchen alongside her mother, Salma Banu.
Her mother hosted elaborate multicourse feasts on the weekend.
My moms like a chef, she says.
Thats a complex thought that, once you understand, you could translate to any dish.
Still, her becoming a chef was not the immigrant parents dream.
El-Waylly went to UC Irvine, where she studied economics and worked at the Cheesecake Factory on the side.
After graduation, she backpacked around Europe.
She had a lot of social anxiety, but food was the way she connected with people.
So she did the thing they say to do, which is go door-knocking.
She went to all the white-tablecloth restaurants at the time Providence, Melisse, Hatfields.
She would wash dishes, she told them.
It was straight-up no, she says.
One chef even said, Why dont you just get married?
You shouldnt be here.
Casual chauvinism was the rule of kitchens everywhere.
In 2008, she began a program at the Culinary Institute of America something she doesnt recommend.
You better get used to it.
And it makes you very unpopular.
They met with investors who wanted them to make brown food, like chai-and-chaat or shawarma.
They called it Hail Mary.
They offered triple-fried potatoes that took a full-time worker an entire 12-hour shift to prepare.
They paid the dishwasher a living wage.
It was wild and utterly impractical.
Throughout, they maintained a monkish humility.
A lot of people complained, Why is this burger $15?
But its grass-fed meat thats ground every single day with homemade American cheese, homemade bread, homemade pickles.
And that is really stupid, because no one can tell those things.
And it really, really doesnt.
The eventualTest Kitchenimplosion was unavoidable.
Sohlas never changed, says Ham.
Shes not one to stay quiet and eat her words if she sees something wrong.
(No razor blades, she swears.)
Theyre still figuring out what works, but theres an audience over 2 million for the first episode.
I just really dont want to be a prop, she says.
If it does well, I make more and everybody makes more.
Its a deal that works well for everybody.
As we wait at an outdoor table, an Asian American hypebeast walks by and doubles back.
Excuse me, are you Sohla?
Thats my sister, he says, holding up his phone on FaceTime.
I just called her, because we loveBon Appetit!
They take a selfie together.
It will be good for you to experience both sides.
As we talk aboutBon Appetit, El-Wayllys mood darkens.
Shes still processing what happened, because it raised existential questions of value who deserves what and how much.
Sometimes she wishes she had never taken the job.
This stuff really gets in your soul, she says.
That we really think we are worthless, so you dont want to ask for more.
For some reason, people like watching a big dumb white guy.
What does that say about the audience?
Why do you want to watch this incompetent white man when we have one in the fucking Oval Office?
El-Wayllys job atBon Appetitwasnt meant for someone with so much experience, but she took it anyway.
As she puts it, management didnt want another Sohla problem.
(Through a Conde Nast spokesperson, Morocco stated that this conversation did not happen.)
Multiple sources in a position to know told Vulture he was intimately involved with hiring.
When pressed about this, a Conde spokesperson clarified that Morocco was involved, but wasnt solely responsible.
Morocco did not respond to requests for comment.)
During an all-staff Zoom meeting, she asked Rapoport point-blank if he was going to resign.
I was like, What are you talking about?
You should totally resign.
Absolutely.He was like, Maybe.
Maybe I should help fix this and then go.
And Im like, No, man.
You got to go.
After the meeting, she fired offpostson Instagram that continued to peel back the facade of a harmonious workplace.
Reddit users pored over everyones statements.
El-Waylly became a symbol for the overqualified and underpaid.
I really didnt think it was going to be a big deal, she says.
Its just what Ive always done.
This was the only time anyone listened.
Well just tighten up.
El-Waylly was offered a fair contract for video work, with back pay.
(She stayed on asa freelancer on the print and web side ofBon Appetit.
)It should be likeFriends,she says.
We should all be getting paid fairly.
The sun has sunk beneath the Hudson, and the wind is picking up.
We walk toward Nordstrom Rack in silence.
I just feel really sad and like Im having a panic attack, she says, wiping away tears.
I feel like Im supposed to be grateful that I got that job.
But its not enough for me to just be here anymore.
I want more, and I dont care that that upsets people.
Toni Morrison once said, The very serious function of racism is distraction.
