Most of the time, the higher-ups only talked to you if you had done something wrong, or as in Nicholas’s case, advising you to seek employment elsewhere. You were expected to put your nose to the grindstone and never come up for air, let alone compliments and praise. But when my first big story broke and I had my hand metaphorically shaken by the top brass, I felt my perspective on the place change. So what if they wanted to use up my youth and energy and spit me out? It’s not like they tried to pretend they were anything but a sweatshop. I knew that if I made it over a year, I would come out alive and with a bigger name than I had when I went in. But I began to see that if I decided to go forward with the Olivia story, and if the paper picked me and my scoop over her, my career would be set. I had never met a woman like Olivia before: one who pushed everyone and everything aside for the sake of success. Girls like her weren’t at sisterhood-loving Wellesley, and they certainly weren’t at Town & Country.
