AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I take a shower and put on the outfit I laid out.
I’m excited to see the keynote speaker, Ty Dyson. He’s the CFO of a Seattle investment fund that was recently bought by one of my top three dream companies to work for in New York City. Invested Enterprises is run by three or four brothers who are investment geniuses.
My plan was to stick it out at my new job for at least a year before applying to New York companies, but now that I’m ready for my day, standing here on my little balcony with my view of the tropical blue sky and the ocean waves, I change my mind. Today, anything seems possible.
Why not apply now? If I could land a job in New York in six months instead of a year, I’ll streamline my goals.
I decide to start applying as soon as I get back to Austin.
Checking my look in the mirror before I head downstairs, I pause for a few seconds. My two hours on the beach yesterday afternoon have already given me a sun-kissed glow.
Damn, girl, you look different in Hawaii than you do in Austin. You actually look like a confident professional. A CEO on the rise. A ball-breaker.
Which is good, except maybe for that last one. It’s true that I have to be more than just self-assured in the industry I’ve chosen. A lot of my peers still see finance as a man’s game, which in this day and age seems sort of ridiculous, but it’s true. Today I’m going to need every ounce of confidence I can get.
I’m wearing an off-white skirt and a white silk top. It’s professional-looking but also feminine. My curves aren’t exactly being advertised but they’re also not disguised. I can pretend I’m one of the guys or I can be exactly who I am: female, in a very man-heavy scene. I’m determined to make that a strength, not a weakness—which I’ve already learned plenty of men seem to think it is.
But I’ll prove them wrong. I know I have enough grit to make it to the top or die trying.
By the time I get down to the restaurant, it’s busy.
A buffet and allocated tables have been set up for the conference attendees. I help myself to some fruit and coffee at the buffet and find a small table at the far end of the terrace. The area is overrun by men in suits, laughing loudly.
There’s barely a woman among them.
I missed the meet-and-greet drinks in one of the hotel’s conference rooms last night, deciding to stay on the beach instead. After a life-transforming swim in the clear blue water, I laid on my beach towel for a while, just appreciating the sand on my skin, two slushy guava cocktails from the bar (to die for) and my book. I was so blissed-out I couldn’t tear myself away.
But now, I realize it might have been a mistake to not spend at least some of my evening with the rest of the delegates.
I’m not easily intimidated, but the testosterone level on this patio is as thick as my Kona double espresso.
Being a recent graduate in a new job is never easy, but one of the hardest things has been being treated like a naïve, mindless girl who knows nothing about the complicated, old-school mechanics of finance, or—worst of all—like a clueless piece of ass.
A couple of guys get up from the table next to mine, glancing over at me, checking me out. “I heard the Victoria’s Secret conference is being held at the hotel down the street,” one jokes.
I smile sweetly. “Which is why I’m wearing my edible thong and diamond-studded wonder bra under my power suit.” Jerk.
The other men roar with laughter and the pack of them wander away.
Whatever.
I eat my (amazingly delicious) papaya in silence, giving myself a silent pep talk. Not everyone is that rude. I’m used to being underestimated, which I can handle. I’m young. And I know what I look like. Give me a couple of years and I’ll be paying that guy’s wages and deciding which one of his friends deserves a bonus or not.
To my relief, the day’s workshops go better, only because everyone takes them seriously.
Each room I go into is full of people who are in fully-focused business mode. Ties have been straightened and new friendships put to one side as the sea of young and hungry attendees hang on every word of the speakers.
It feels good to be in a place where everyone has the same goals. I don’t have to pretend to be unambitious or change my personality like I sometimes had to do in college. I can be the cool, corporate version of Dusty Rose, without worrying about being “likable” or “smiling more.” I can focus on absorbing the kind of knowledge that will take me all the way to New York.
By the time I’ve sat through three back-to-back seminars and a keynote speech, my head is bursting with new information.
With the workshops done for the day, everyone heads to the beach bar. I’m about to join them when I see Brad and his friends. They’re talking to the three guys who were sitting next to me at breakfast.
Wonderful.
And so I decide to pass on social hour. I’ve already done my research. The only New York companies with delegates here at the conference have sent their lower-level employees. Like me. This conference is for people on the rise, not the ones who have already made it.
I want to be social. But I can’t quite face the brigade of loud-mouthed macho men dominating the bar right now who are already well on their way to getting inebriated on the company credit card.
