Demand The Wing Resolve Plagiarizing You Must Love Life's Slogan

***Please sign this petition to encourage The Wing to resolve this issue of plagiarism with me in a mutually beneficial way. Ideally I would like to either have credit on the pages of the products that link to my site/Instagram and 50% of sales of the merchandise.***

My heart is heavy right now. I feel taken advantage of by women's coworking space The Wing, whose mission is to uplift women.

My tagline for You Must Love Life, my blog/social media presence/digital magazine is "For the multidimensional woman." I've been a member of The Wing for over a year now, and a champion of theirs. I've posted about them and tagged more times than I can count on my Instagram and blog, and I even shot an editorial fashion spread for @ymllmagazine at the DUMBO location. I've also been in contact with them through DM multiple times throughout the course of my membership, and have a major overlap in followers with them.

Over the year, I've benefitted in many ways from being a member at The Wing. I met an amazing woman through their Wing Buddy program who I've become close friends with. I've created meaningful relationships with other women through being a member. I've had the opportunity to hear inspiring women like Ayanna Pressley, Chris Jansing, and Arianna Huffington speak. I even started my journey to healing from the trauma of rape through one of their support group meetings. 

With all of that in context, it's incredibly disappointing to see that new merchandise from The Wing (a phone case and head scarf) feature my tagline, which has been my tagline I've used as a cornerstone of my content and the community I've built for about two years. A quick Google search will show that this phrase is not common. It also seems suspicious because I know I'm on The Wing's radar. Members of The Wing's team have seen my Instagram account (which displays the tagline "Multidimensional Woman" front and center on my profile). They've commented on my posts and interacted with me several times through direct message. I even did a photoshoot for a fashion spread in my magazine at the DUMBO location. My blog is also listed in my member profile on their site and app. A good chunk of our audiences overlap, as well.

I chose my tagline carefully when creating my brand, and have built a community around those words and that message. I even wrote about what it means to be a multidimensional woman in the editor's letter of my latest magazine issue. I feel The Wing has overstepped here in a very serious way, and it feels especially egregious because my tagline is on merchandise--something they'll directly make money from that I created. 

I reached out to The Wing, and all they said was that they didn't know this was my tagline. Companies are required to perform due diligence research on products, especially those with phrases. Given their closeness and awareness of me, as well as their reliance on social listening for marketing purposes, I believe this isn't true.

I also learned through this process that The Wing actually has already plagiarized another artist, @awardsforgoodboys.  In May, they copied the tongue in cheek ribbon awards that this artist created. I feel that, among the recent issues they've had with not being a welcoming place for WOC, they're not keeping up with their community. They're taking advantage of it.

***Please Note: I understand that I did not invent the term "multidimensional woman" and that this term has been used by people in the past. This is strictly about a branding perspective in the sense that I've used it as the cornerstone of my content and the community I've built. The issue I have here is that I'm on The Wing's radar, I'm a part of their community, and our audiences overlap. Slogans can be trademarked (which I'm working on), and they're put in place to protect the consumer. (i.e. When you order a Domino's pizza, it's trademarked so you know you're actually getting a pizza from Domino's). When the part of my community that overlaps with The Wing's sees "Multidimensional Woman" on The Wing's merchandise, it creates confusion as to if it's a partnership with me.***