When I moved to New York back in 2004, after 20 plus years in Europe and never having lived as an adult in the United States, my ticket to ride on this new life was reinventing myself as an executive recruiter in the fashion business. I had outstanding pedigree in fashion, and I got lots of interviews, but I was having difficulty landing a job until a wonderful woman by the name of Maxine Martens hired me to be an executive recruiter.

I remember sitting in meetings during the early days. First name references peppered the conversations, and I had no clue who they were talking about. I thought, how am I ever going to get this? I had limited money in my bank account. I did not have the wisdom around the words positive expectation. They had positive expectation about me, but I was very fearful. I was coming to the office late at night to work on searches in Japan to show my boss that I was eager to please and hardworking.

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