The Background

or The Hardest Working Woman in Marketing

Until March of 2009, I was a senior manager of marketing and business development for a mid-sized NYC law firm. I earned my handsome six-figure salary by working an average of 45 hours each week in the office and an additional 5-10 hours from home in the evenings and on weekends. I spent my 3.5 hour-round trip commute from home to midtown Manhattan responding to e-mails, reviewing reports, and editing documents. So, during that rare “ordinary” week, that is, one without a huge looming deadline, or some sort of departmental crisis, I devoted approximately 80% of my non-sleeping hours to getting work done for this firm. During a crisis or deadline-driven event, that number could easily and often exceed 100%, meaning that in addition to working all my awake time, I’d be working even when I should have been sleeping.