That time I was employed by a con man

And he announced, publicly, that I was rubbish at writing. Rather than cower, I wrote a blog post about it that went viral and it became a national news story.

In 2012, I moved back to London having spent two years in Somerset with my then-boyfriend (now husband) and landed a job in an art gallery in Shoreditch.

It was perfect. This was (apparently) a millionaire artist, art dealer and gallerist who represented some really good artists. I would be the in-house copywriter.

I spent a few months in a back room of the warehouse gallery, with a couple of others, promoting the current exhibition and creating marketing plans for future ones.

At the end of the first month, I waited for payment to land in my account but it didn’t. He said there was a delay but we’d be paid soon.

At the end of the second month, it happened again.

And the third.

By now, I was owed a couple of grand. I stopped going into work. And in time, I got a proper job, as a corporate copywriter, where I was paid decent money - and actually paid.

But then, a year later, I became pregnant and HR told me my contract would be terminated as soon as I left to have my baby. I was sad and confused.

I decided to save as much as I could - I was on a high day rate - to supplement the pathetic self-employed maternity allowance I’d receive (about £500/month).

I also decided I would go back to that gallerist and demand my pay. I needed the money. But also, why should I let him get away with not paying me?

He ignored my email and so I wrote a blog post about what he’d done and posted it. Within hours, it had gone massively viral. People were pissed off on my behalf.

But also, about 50 others came forward saying he’d done them over, too.

The Independent newspaper caught wind of the story and soon, it was in the national news.

He was very angry with me. So, what did he do?