Inspiring assistants who have broke through the glass ceiling. The Assist Conference 2015

1. Before
I
kick
off
with
a
li1le
look
at
a
few
inspira5on
PAs
who
all
broke
the
mould
in
one
way
or
another
I
want
to
take
a
minute
to
talk
to
you
about
the
Assist
Conference
and
why
I
set
this
event
up.
Firstly,
I
believe
that
we
do
one
of
the
world’s
trickiest
jobs
–
we
have
to
juggle
mul5ple
tasks,
mul5ple
personali5es
–
which
are
oFen
found
in
the
same
person
And
different
percep5ons
about
our
role
and
the
industry.
We
have
all
heard
the
‘just
an
assistant’
line
and
most
of
us
have
probably
said
this
about
ourselves
at
some
point.
I
want
this
conference
to
signal
the
death
knoll
for
that
flipping
saying!
We
are
professional
women
who
have
a
difficult
and
actually
incredibly
important
job
and
from
this
point
on
we
must
believe
in
ourselves
so
that
our
Execu5ves,
colleagues
and
peers
take
us
seriously.
So
how
do
we
start
this
process
–
well
I
think
a
good
place
to
start
is
to
look
to
our
fore-­‐sisters.
The
women
who
were
assistants
but
did
things
a
li1le
differently.
Now
we
could
just
sit
here
and
watch
Working
Girl
and
9-­‐5
and
then
head
off
for
a
drink
but
I’ve
found
a
few
non-­‐fic5onal
accounts
of
women
who
have
broke
the
assistant
mould.
1

2. Last
year
I
was
in
Memphis.
During
my
visit
I
went
to
Sun
Studios
which
is
the
place
where
Johnny
Cash,
Karl
Perkins,
Jerry
Lee
Lewis
and
the
king
himself
–
Elvis
Presley
all
recorded
their
famous
tracks.
One
of
the
stories
I
absolutely
loved
was
about
the
woman
you
can
see
in
the
picture.
Her
name
was
Marion
Keisker
and
she
was
the
secretary
to
the
studio
owner
–
Sam
Philips.
So
the
story
goes:
She
was
alone
in
the
studio
the
day
that
a
young
Elvis
Presley
walked
in
to
record
a
few
songs.
She
asked
the
boy,
“what
kind
of
singer
are
you?”
and
he
said,
“I
sing
all
kinds”.
She
then
asked,
“Who
do
you
sound
like?”.
He
said,
“I
don’t
sound
like
nobody”.
Now
usually
the
studio
manager
would
cut
the
tracks
but
on
this
occasion
Marion
agreed
to
do
the
recording.
As
you
can
imagine
Marion
was
impressed
with
Elvis’s
voice..
And
probably
his
looks
helped!...
and
decided
to
men5on
the
young
talent
to
her
boss.
At
the
5me
the
studio
had
enough
ar5st
and
Sam
Philips
wasn’t
interested
in
Marion’s
new
find.
With
much
persistence
from
Marion,
Sam
finally
agreed
to
let
Elvis
come
back
into
the
study
to
record
another
song.
This
5me
Sam
was
impressed
and
the
rest,
as
they
say,
is
history!
What
I
love
about
this
story
is
that
Marion
took
it
upon
herself
to
record
Elvis
even
though
it
was
normally
her
manager
that
did
it.
Elvis
might
never
have
been
discovered
if
it
wasn’t
for
her
confidence.
In
fact,
a
few
years
later
Elvis
and
Marion
bumped
into
each
other
and
Elvis
said,
“I
don’t
know
whether
to
kiss
you
or
salute!
We
would
not
be
having
a
press
conference
if
it
weren’t
for
this
Lady”.
2

3. So
we
all
have
probably
owned
a
piece
of
clothing
by
Donna
Karan
or
DKNY
in
at
some
point
or
other,
but
not
many
of
you
will
know
that
Donna
started
as
an
assistant
to
the
designer
Anne
Klein.
Her
rise
from
assistant
to
owner
of
a
global
brand
is
pre1y
drama5c.
She
was
due
to
go
onto
maternity
leave
when
her
boss
was
taken
ill
and
rushed
to
hospital.
While
Anne
was
in
hospital
Donna
took
over
the
planning
of
the
pre-­‐fall
fashion
shows.
Sadly
Anne
Klein
passed
away
on
the
same
day
Donna
gave
birth
to
her
first
child.
But
as
they
say
–
the
show
must
go
on
-­‐
so
Donna
organised
the
rest
of
the
fashion
show
from
her
bed
in
the
maternity
ward.
3

4. This
is
Karen
Kaplan,
the
CEO
of
adver5sing
giant
Hill
Holiday.
She
started
out
at
Hill
Holiday
as
their
recep5onist
in
1982!
During
the
her
first
week
on
the
job
her
co-­‐worker
and
more
senior
recep5onist
assured
her
that
she
was
the
lowest
of
the
low
–
saying
that
she
was
even
lower
than
the
post
room
guy!
Apparently
it
was
all
very
The
Devil
Wears
Prada’.
But
this
didn’t
phase
her
and
instead
she
took
on
an
‘I’ll
show
you
mantra’.
She
quickly
progressed
from
the
recep5onist
–
lowest
of
the
low
–
to
assistant
despite
the
fact
she
wasn’t
actually
qualified
for
the
posi5on.
To
catch
up
she
spent
evenings
and
weekends
learning
the
ropes.
She
worked
her
backside
off
and
was
rewarded
by
having
her
job
5tle
changed
to
Account
Manager.
From
there
she
could
progress
up
the
management
roles
un5l
she
was
finally
named
CEO
in
2013.
Her
advice
for
other
assistants
that
want
to
move
up
the
career
ladder
is
fantas5c
-­‐
She
said
“I
raised
my
hand
for
every
opportunity.
And
I
never
let
the
fact
that
I
had
absolutely
no
idea
what
I
was
doing
stop
me.”
4

5. Last
but
no
means
least.
This
is
Ursula
Brown,
the
CEO
of
Xerox.
Ursula
was
working
as
an
intern
for
Xerox
when
she
was
asked
to
a1end
a
work-­‐life
discussion
where
she
raised
the
issue
of
diversity
in
the
workplace.
Apparently
her
opinion
was
quite
forcefully
communicated
and
the
following
day
she
was
called
into
see
a
senior
Execu5ve
of
Xerox.
Expec5ng
to
be
reprimanded
or
fired
she
was
instead
asked
to
be
his
assistant.
Ini5ally
she
thought
‘why
would
I
want
to
do
that’
but
once
she
was
assured
the
job
would
involved
more
than
the
tradi5onal
secretaries
tasks
she
excepted.
She
was
expected
to
a1end
mee5ngs
with
her
boss
including
board
mee5ngs.
Board
mee5ngs
at
Xerox
were
set
up
so
that
the
Execs
sat
round
the
board
table
and
their
assistants
sat
off
to
the
side.
During
one
such
mee5ng
the
CEO
was
discussing
the
hiring
policy
and
that
departments
were
hiring
too
many
staff.
Ursula,
ever
the
curious,
raised
her
hand
and
asked
‘if
the
CEO
can’t
stop
staff
hiring
staff
–
who
can?’
Again
the
next
day
she
was
called
into
see
the
CEO
and
thought
this
might
be
her
last
straw.
But
instead
she
was
being
poached
by
the
CEO
to
be
his
new
Execu5ve
Assistant
.
5

6. So
the
reason
I
picked
these
four
ladies
is
because
they
all
prove
it
can
be
done.
It
isn’t
easy,
it
takes
5me
but
assistants
can
move
up
within
their
organisa5ons
and
they
can
achieve
extraordinary
things.
They
also
personify
the
three
key
themes
of
the
Assist
Conference
• The
need
to
change
other
people’s
behaviours
and
your
own.
• The
need
to
be
proac5ve.
• The
importance
of
having
your
career
goals,
always,
at
the
front
of
your
mind.
We
will
return
to
these
key
themes
throughout
the
day
but
for
now
I
want
you
to
think
about
what
you
can
achieve
in
your
own
careers
and
how
you
can
move
on
up!
6