People have already raised $200,000 for the Fyre Festival caterer who paid workers from her own life savings.

Thanks to two Fyre Festival documentaries, a woman who was defrauded by the festival organizers is getting her due—plus a whole lot more.
Even if you didn't hear about the Fyre Festival debacle when it happened in the spring of 2017, you've probably heard about the popular Netflix and Hulu documentaries on the Fabulous-Festival-That-Wasn't.
Fyre Festival was supposed to be the music festival to end all music festivals. Promoted by prominent social media influencers and touted as a luxurious can't-miss event on a gorgeous island in the Bahamas, ads made it look and sound like it might actually be worth the thousands of dollars it cost to attend.
Turns out, it wasn't even close. A series of mishaps, mismanagement, and outright fraud meant the people who traveled to the island, fully expecting to be partying and pampered, got stuck sleeping in FEMA tents, lucky to be eating wrapped sandwiches and have drinkable water.
In short, it was a disaster of epic proportions, and its main organizer is now serving a six year jail sentence for fraud.
One restaurant owner ended up paying her workers $50,000 from her own life savings.
It wasn't just Fyre Festival attendees who were victims of the festival's massive flop. Many Bahamian business owners found themselves providing services for the organizers beforehand and preparing for throngs of festival-goers—and not getting paid a cent in the end.
One restaurant owner, Maryann Rolle, who runs the Exuma Point Bar & Grill where many of the initial attendees ate and drank when they arrived (before it all went spectacularly downhill), was never paid for her services. She ended up using $50,000 from her life savings to pay staff members.
"I had 10 persons working directly with me, just preparing food all day and all night, 24 hours," Rolle said in the Netflix documentary. "I had to literally pay all those people. I am here as a Bahamian, and they stand in my face every day."
People felt for the woman, and have shown it by opening their own wallets.
A GoFundMe has raised more than $200,000 for Rolle, who says she'll use the extra to help others in her situation.
A friend of Rolle in the U.S. set up a GoFundMe to help her recoup some of what she lost in the Fyre Festival mess. Fans of the documentary who sympathized with her situation have stepped up and raised an impressive $208,000 and counting, largely through small donations.
According to Rochester First, Rolle says she'll share the extra funds with other Bahamians who were financially hamstrung by the festival "People from all over the Bahamas are asking for help and I am willing to help people because that is my life—helping people," Rolle said.
She told the outlet her phone has been ringing so frequently with people asking for financial assistance that it's hard to sleep. She's eager to help, but she doesn't even have the money yet.
"The money hasn't reached into my physical hands yet to help people, to pass the love on and to make people happy," she said. "The money is still in the GoFundMe account and I am waiting to bless people."
Posted by Exuma Point Bahamas on Sunday, January 20, 2019
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."