Cheers To A Former Boss.

I came across the e-mail of a former employer yesterday and decided to send her a brief “shout out” (I hate that phrase). I never expected her to write back, but she did…and I’m so glad.

I miss her terribly…isn’t that an odd thing to say about a boss?

Several years ago, this woman hired me to work for her at a very large financial institution. While I have an extensive marketing background, which is what the job required, my previous job was at a large European luxury car company.

You can imagine that working all day on marketing details for a car company would be quite different than at a financial institution.

It’s so rare that a transition such as that can be recognized by a perspective employer as potentially valuable…but she saw something in me.

Soon after I was hired, September 11th occured…and while we each tried our best to get on with business…it was nearly impossible.

Not only were our offices a block away from Ground Zero, Sr. management was trying to make critical changes to our department.

Shortly after those events, much of our tightly knit department began to dispand. Some of us were walking wounded, some of us couldn’t bear the political strain and some of us just couldn’t bear being in lower Manhattan anymore.

So, 4 years later, I’ve re-connected with the woman who was my mentor…and now she and I are each doing something completely new with our careers. I find it so fascinating how resilient the human spirit can be.

I’m so happy for her…I know she will be the success I knew she would be.

Cheers Evi Anne!

Image: Henry Stahlhut/Conde Nast