The Sexy CEO

The idea for a blog about women in San Francisco came from my days as a ghostwriter for Silicon Valley women executives. I wasn't entirely sure what the marketing guy was talking about when he said he needed a "ghostwriter for a woman." As a former newspaper editor and journalist, I had interviewed many women. There was the "Money Goddess" who rolled around naked on her bed in newly minted dollar bills hoping to attract the "Money God," and there was the young socialite living in a posh beach house who was determined to undermine herself at every turn by saying things such as, "And then my husband sold his company and we were no longer Mr. and Mrs. Schmoe!" Ghostwriting I soon learned was different. I got this general assignment: "We need sexy stories. Can you do it? The pay is $175 an hour." Me: "Yes I can."

A very popular word at the time in marketing and public relations was "sexy." It did not have anything to do with sex, it just meant creating something somebody would look at. The assignment was anything but. I learned that I was to write a story about a software product, sign the CEO's name to it, and place it in a top-tier publication. When asked what the sexy part of it was they said, "It's your job to find out." There was a fabulously creative PR guy at the company and he gave me some promising angles and leads, but I was beginning to feel as desperate as the money goddess. I imagined a vapid, soulless article about a boring technology product that no one would want to read. Signed by my CEO.

Before we met for our first interview, I learned as much as I could about this executive. This was early Silicon Valley, around 2001, so I only found very basic stuff on a very basic internet. She was Ivy-educated, ambitious, beautiful, smart, and about to be extraordinarily wealthy. I was young, not yet thirty. I was slightly intimidated when I passed through people in their cubicles and sat down across from her in her corner office. She had piercing eyes and the kind of confidence you expect from a CEO. After the niceties, where I accidentally insulted her home state, I got to work asking her about her childhood, her family, her education—when she stopped me. Why did I need to know all of these personal things? Wasn't I there to write about the product?

"Well, yes, but the assignment is to write as if I am you, and to make the article 'sexy.'" We stared at each other a moment, and I think what passed was an understanding that only women can have when working in a male-dominated industry. She nodded for me to continue. She stopped me again to clarify my next question about what her favorite scents were. She thought that was weird? But not the question about what she dreams of in her sleep at night?

It felt absurd to be sitting across from this sharp executive asking personal questions. I backed it up with an understanding of the software product her company sold. As time went by in my ghostwriting career, I tried this sensory approach with male executives. They would get these expressions like my husband sometimes gets when I start talking about why I love my child's toes.

Whatever we did it worked because I was able to draft seven articles and place them in the top tier publications of the day. They were mostly Op-Eds about a mishmash of technology and personal experiences about being a woman in the tech industry, carefully constructed so there was no complaining about the situation. Most fascinating was watching this executive peel off her CEO armor and become a vulnerable, whole person, willing to give me a chance. Women I believe are risk-takers. I am very excited to begin this journey of bi-weekly revelatory interviews about our most fascinating women in San Francisco. I hope you join us.

~Kimberly Wainscoat


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