[ ! ] — it seems that [ amelia whisham ] has entered the scene ! she looks exactly like [ natalie dormer ]. this [ 38-year-old ] is the [ major stakeholder ] of [ telegrapp-h ]. it’s a small wonder since she is known for being [ assertive + diligent ] and [ indulgent+ machiavellian ]. she has been involved with the company for [ 8ish ] years.
TW: undiagonosed mental health, drug abuse
Early life:
Amelia's world was always defined by rules. Strict hours to wake up, ways she was expected to behave, and things she was meant to achieve. Her family's name and connections meant she had a way in, but it also meant she had a lot to live up to.
Fortunately, the weight of the expectations was always something she enjoyed carrying. It's not some much that she is happy to be worked to the bone - but that she cannot pass up the opportunity of winning over someone else.
As a child her knowledge of rules and how to use them to her advanced was used to win sports games or get ahead in clubs and performance awards. She not the smartest person in class but she understands what people want from her with a scarily good accuracy. It's formulaic, really. A good essay is not built on a good theme so much as in writing exactly what her teachers want to read. A abysmal number of volunteering hours, sports and leadership positions shines more in her resume.
Her asinine adherence to both the general and her own set of rules often borders on manic. Certainly something that would have been diagnosed had she had more attentive parents or had it shown negatively on her achievements. But with the type of success she was getting in academics, extracurricular activities and interpersonal relationships? You certainly can't have your perfect daughter walking around with a label like mentally ill.
This competitive personality and undiagnosed issues, coupled with the possibly inherited addictive personality, all came crashing down on her in the summer of 2002. A broken leg acquired during the horse jumping competition season and the end of her GCSEs left her with a mind numblingly boring summer. The opioids prescribed to her leg, however, helped pass time much faster.
It's her then boyfriend, and especially his father's prescription pad, that continues her supply once the legal dose is up. She was never much of a drinker or smoker, using both simply as an in into conversations and groups she wanted easier access to. But those little round pills become the one thing that shuts her brain down. Thankfully, neither her parents nor her older brother Arnold ever found out about it. They wouldn't understand.
Career:
Picking law for her postsecondary education is almost too easy of a choice. She does both her LLB and LLM in King's College, choosing to stay in London over the prospect of Oxbridge education. She wanted her degree good and quick, and she already had her eye on the International firms, which all had branches in London.
She gets a Trainee position at Alstern Solicitors after her LLB due to a favor from one of her father's business partners. But the offer for an associate position at Clifford Chance a month before getting her LLM is all her own. From there, she rises in the ranks. She makes partner at 34 and has since become quite settled into her role. She now mostly deals with antitrust and M&A corporate law.
Stock in TELEGRAPP-H:
She buys into Telegrapp-H when it's still Chitchatter. She'd been an associate for a few years at that point, but having a varied stock portfolio was just something you did when you had Whisham money. Most of her stock until that point had been quite passive, she enjoyed investing in tech companies but had yet to buy into something new and fresh.
She hears about Chitchatter at work. It's new, but it's gaining users fast. She's just one of the associates placed on Park Haneul's case. It's while drafting all the trademarks and contracts that she really understands the scope of the situation. It truly has everything to be the next big thing in tech. She's interested. She invests in it more than most British citizens will see in a year. The next year, she buys even more stocks.
When they're acquired by app-H she's delighted. Her stocks value goes up 10 fold overnight. It's the whispers of app-H's Frankenstein monster of intellectual property in their vault that first make her wary. She has plenty of other investments, she wouldn't be destroyed were Telegrapp-H to fail. But, oh, would her ego take a hit.
Verity Vergès:
Meeting Verity Vergès at a bar in Canary Wharf after work was a surprise but Amelia is immediately interested. Verity has a fire in her eyes she can't quite explain. And sure, she's a little rough around the edges. A lot is clearly wrong, but when has Amelia ever given up because something was challenging?
How fast everything happens after that night surprises even Amelia. They're dating by the end of the week. Living together before the end of the year. And married two years later. It's not Amelia's style to move this fast but she is incredibly obsessed with Verity and the life they built together.
When Verity talks about children a few months into the marriage, Amelia agrees without much thought. She never wanted children but she's not against them. Amelia was a perfectly agreeable child, there's no reason to think any kid with a good upbringing will be very difficult.
Verity carries both pregnancies, mostly because the prospect of a long maternity leave make Amelia break out into hives. Plus the thought of giving birth makes her squeamish. Verity wants to be a mother, surly pregnancy is involved in that.
Possible Connections:
Family friends
Uni friends
Exes / past flings
current or past clients
if from a smaller company, maybe she has some shares in your company/invested in it in some way?
the usual vibes ya know, lets talk 😉