Last week, Eminem shocked employees at the Rocket Mortgage annual meeting in Detroit by walking out on stage for a surprise performance. But no one felt more caught off guard than Brittany Ednie – Hailie Jade’s best friend, co-host, and Rocket employee.
The Most Wanted
Brittany had always assumed she’d be the first to know if Hailie’s father planned to perform at her workplace. And this is the possibility she has to consider every year. Apparently, Eminem is the one hew collegues want to see the most.
Brittany explained on the latest episode of their Just a Little Shady podcast: “This is an annual meeting we have, and every time it rolls around people are speculating who’s the performer going to be. And your dad is typically the number one speculation. In my mind, if it ever were to be your dad performing, I was going to know, I would have had that inkling. So, in my wildest dreams, I was like, no, it’s not happening. Haley wouldn’t lie to me. She wouldn’t keep this secret from me. We don’t keep secrets from each other”.
But this time, Hailie was under strict orders to say nothing. She stayed silent, even as the event got underway.
A Secret Well Kept
Hailie told the story from her point of view. “I was given specific instructions not to tell Brittany this was happening”, Hailie said. “And quite frankly, I was never going to tell her anyway because I thought it would be a lot more fun to show up at her all-company meeting and have her find out that way”.
Even when the signs were right in front of her, Brittany didn’t suspect a thing. It appeared that the company leaders were hinting at the scale of the mystery guest during the interlude. “They were talking about things coming up, speculating about the performer, and then I kid you not, there was a live goat, and somebody goes, “Oh, is that the goat?” And a farm animal goat walked by”, Brittany recalls. “And in that moment, I should have said, “Well, duh. We know who it is”. However, that clue went right over my head”.
A Corporate Event Like No Other
Hailie admitted she was impressed by the production and the setting. “I have never witnessed anything corporate. Anything to this magnitude, this is something that I could have never thought in my wildest dreams I would see at a corporate meeting”, she said. “In an arena, on a stage with the lights, the sound effects, everything. And we’re not talking about the performance. This is just people talking at a meeting”.
The vibe quickly shifted from buttoned-up business to full-scale show once Eminem took the stage at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena. That’s when Brittany finally FaceTimed Hailie, stunned to realise her friend had been there the whole time.
The Tale of Two Worlds
“When she FaceTimed me, I said, ‘Come to the suite’. She came right away”, Hailie shared.
For her and the whole Eminem entourage who showed up at the Little Caesars Arena that day, the corporate setting was so exotic and unfamiliar that it made them pause. “We were so out of place, and everybody was sitting there so quiet, so focused, paying attention to the meeting”, Hailie told the viewers. “We all come in thinking, oh, we’re at an arena, it’s like a show, and it’s dead silence, meeting, in work mode. And we’re all like, oh, okay, time to be serious. We don’t want to cause a scene”.
It turned out to be an unforgettable moment for both Rocket Mortgage staff and two best friends navigating the strange intersection of family, fame, and corporate culture.
