It was after Alva Johnson heard then presidential candidate Donald Trump talking about grabbing women by the p*ssy that she said she stopped showing up for work.

"I left the campaign right after the Access Hollywood tape came out," Johnson tells Teen Vogue. "From the moment I heard the audio, I didn’t go back to work. I had never missed a day. I started taking sick days until I was able to speak with a lawyer."

What she heard on that tape was similar to what Johnson alleged in a recent lawsuit she experienced as a campaign staffer for the man who would go on to be the president of the United States. Johnson filed a lawsuit on February 25, alleging Trump kissed her without her consent while she was on the campaign trail with him in Florida. In addition to the charge that she was "another object of Defendant Trump’s unwanted sexual attention," Johnson alleged in the lawsuit that she was a victim of race and gender discrimination through unequal pay. The Trump administration has refuted Johnson's claims, calling the lawsuit "absurd on its face," and two people whom Johnson claimed witnessed the alleged assault have denied they witnessed anything. Still, Johnson tells Teen Vogue that she came forward with her allegations now because she doesn't want to let Trump convince the public that assault is normal.

"Over the course of a year, or two years, you hear the things — the Muslim ban, babies in cages, Charlottesville. You see the way he’s spoken to, especially, journalists of color and women of color. The name calling, the normalization, and him making fun of the #MeToo movement. Knowing that, as an employee of his, I experienced that, knowing those women [who also accused him of assault] were not lying, I felt I had to come out."

"It seems right now we’re going backward," she continues. "This wasn't appropriate for a long time. Now the most powerful man in the world is making fun of people who are coming forward [about sexual abuse], calling them liars even though their stories are so consistent. Knowing it wasn’t past behavior from eight or 10 years ago. It was very recent with me. I feel like it's something that’s necessary. Sometimes things that are necessary aren’t easy. "

While some of the other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct — at least 20 in total — were disbelieved, Johnson says that hasn't been her experience. After the alleged assault, Johnson says she told her family and friends, and then went to a lawyer who reportedly found her story credible, according to text messages obtained by The Washington Post. For business reasons, however, the lawyer later reportedly declined to take on Johnson's case. That, she said, made her fearful of continuing to pursue her allegations at the time they happened, as Trump became more and more powerful. But after she eventually filed the lawsuit in February, Johnson tells Teen Vogue, she largely received support from both friends and strangers.

"I think given his pattern and given his history, I haven’t had as many people doubt me as I was expecting," Johnson says. "That’s made me feel a little better, that people do believe me. My story has been very consistent. I think people can tell when I give my side of the story and explain, that I’m still generally shocked and how uncomfortable I am."