Monday, September 8, 2003
My legs felt like jelly. It was my first day at the renowned DIC Agency. After numerous aptitude tests and personal interviews -which by the way I had passed with flying colors- I had achieved the position I wanted.
DIC stands for ´Dream In Color´, and that alone says a lot about the kind of advertising agency it was. I wouldn´t be allowed to just get in and get along as I did when I had the editor position at a teen magazine. At DIC I´d have to give it my all, every single day.
I dreamed of pushing ahead and doing great things. I was to be assistant to one of the most prestigious creative directors in New York: Josh Parker. It boggled my mind that something so cool could happen to me. Josh had been responsible for some of the most wonderful and famous publicity campaigns worldwide. And I was going to be one of his assistants!
For the occasion, I had picked an austere two-piece suit with a white shirt -top two buttons undone-. I put on some incredibly uncomfortable but high end killer heels, and got in the car. I was still shaking, but the excitement and vitality typical of twenty-six-year-old who wants to gobble up the world with fries on the side, helped me to get going.
I parked at my reserved parking spot. I now had a parking spot! Another dream come true.
Just as I was getting out of the car, a girl was moving into the spot beside mine. I figured she must have been about my age. She had a pleasant face and had chosen to wear clothes similar to mine. I walked slowly towards the elevator that would take me to the main entrance of the agency and the girl clumsily stumbled in her high heels towards me.
“These pumps are going to kill me. I´m Lisa Veltman. Today is my first day at the agency.” She squinted her light brown eyes in a playful manner and smiled timidly revealing a neat row of perfect whites.
“Paula Hawkins. Pleased to meet you Lisa. It´s my first day too.”
“Really?” She asked enthusiastically, “You´re not one of Josh Parkers assistants by any chance?” I nodded “Wow! That’s great! I was scared witless to walk in alone!”
“Me too.” I acknowledged with a smile.
I was quite familiar with the place. I had been there at least five times before for the painstaking personal interviews. We stopped at the front desk to make inquiries and were directed to one of the immaculate rooms, all white, with matching leather couches; I was familiar with these though.
“For the last interview, they had me waiting here for forty minutes,” whispered Lisa, “I think they have cameras to check how you react.”
“I hadn’t thought about that, but they did the same to me.” I shrugged and turned to look around for some signs of a miniature lens that I might have missed.
After five minutes, a tall well-built man walked through the door. His eyes were the most beautiful I´d seen in my entire life.
“Good morning, I´m Josh Parker, I guess you are Paula Hawking and Lisa Veltman,” he greets us peering into a battered folder. We both felt somewhat overwhelmed, “if you can come with me please.”
We walked into one of the meeting rooms. Two young women were there. From the way they stared at us, it was clear they had been working here for a while. Confident and overdressed, they evidently felt we were competition. Both were blonds, like Lisa, and rather than assistants to anyone, they resembled Victoria Secret´s top models.
“Let me introduce you to Charlotte Heston and Nicole Witte. They have been my assistants for over eight years and you are going to join them in our team. We are going to do great things Paula, Lisa,” he promised with great enthusiasm putting all formality aside. He bit his lower lip and looked at me. My heart immediately jumped, it was the first time in my life I literally experienced butterflies in my stomach. Hundreds of them, letting me know that this man was to be an important part of my life´s story.