Boss Foxy

I have been kind of gushy around here lately, which I suppose I shouldn’t apologize for, but at some point I will have to cover years 1-18 of my life, which were a little less positive. Especially numbers 8-12…those were not that much fun.

But I can leave that until tomorrow. First, I am going to cover Boss Foxy, which is by far the coolest name I have given anyone so far. And she would be really fired up if I told her. Maybe someday…but for now we all have secrets (including…teaser…one very large one I am keeping from you:-P)

Anyway, about when I started work here, Smoking Hot Roommate, who is a little more plugged in that I am, encouraged me to find a mentor. I never really even thought of it, but she explained the virtues of finding someone who could offer your career advice and guidance and general counsel. I could pretty much hit up both Papa Bear and Big Sis for that kind of stuff, but I could see the virtue of finding an alternate source.

As I mentioned, this is almost an entirely male industry, so I sort of though I should find a female mentor who could help with issues around fitting into a male culture. As luck would have it, we have a female partner here at the firm. There are NOT many of them in the industry.

Boss Foxy actually used to be Big Sis’ boss at Big Name Investment Bank that rhymes with Old Can Schnapps. [I really laughed at that one]. They worked in London together for almost five years. Papa Bear was concerned with the lack of women in the firm…he is kind of a women’s libber, which I guess happens when you have two absolutely amazing daughters…and set out to increase that number. In looking for a senior level woman, of whom there are few, Big Sis suggested that he talk with her old boss. He hired her on the spot and she was a partner within a year of that.

Fast forward to me starting here. Armed with SHR’s advice, I approached Boss Foxy all timid and cute one day, told her what I was looking for and asked her if she would be interested in mentoring me. Or if she knew anyone at another firm who might. Well, she got all excited and not only did she agree, but she put me on her schedule for lunch once a week for eternity to talk about whatever I wanted.

And she has been great to me. She has been faithful to her promise to meet once a week, despite having an absurdly busy schedule. She also takes time to explain things to me that I don’t understand, and suggests projects in different industries with the principals and vice presidents that I should try and get involved in.

She has also taken me to a couple of women’s networking sessions in the city that have been really helpful and have been SUPER ego boosters. And she has given me invaluable council on how to be a woman in an industry that is 95% male. I don’t want to sound like a sniveler, but it is hard and you do have to be wary of the way people view you. Especially because I am so much younger than everyone else and look even younger than I am.

Beyond that, she is just a good friend. She takes Munchkin to baseball games sometimes, and I baby-sit her kids on occasion. And she told her husband to consult me before he bought her a Christmas present last year…lol.

One last thing…she is in her mid 40’s and has three kids, but she is still in extremely good shape. I wouldn’t say she looks younger than her age, but she definitely doesn’t look like she has had three kids. She engenders a ton of respect in the office and the guys that work for her would run off a building if she asked them to. But they also all think she is hot…lol…and the power is part of that.

Well, on three occasions now, our lunch meetings have turned into “facial, manicure and massage” meetings…hee hee. We have gone to a spa nearby and taken a couple hours to decompress. The first time we did that, I wasn’t really sure what the protocol was for getting massages alongside people you work with. Didn’t bother her, though, and she got naked before the massage (yes, I did the same, but I wouldn’t have done it first!).

Well, I relayed this story to the guys at lunch a couple days later, and they were just completely flabbergasted. After like five minutes of open jaws I got like one little whimpered “Wait…you saw Boss Foxy naked?”

Another couple days later, I had relayed that story to Boss Foxy, who casually dropped in conversation to a couple of the guys…”I understand that you guys were impressed that Cutie saw me naked?” And they just had no idea how to respond to that at all. And on her way out the door, she casually dropped “She has more tattoos than me, but mine are bigger.”

Which is true, and also left them all with looks on their faces that can not be described in words. I wish I had a camera.

And I guess leads to me telling you about my tattoos...I have five of them and they all have a story.

That will have to wait until tomorrow…