Bonnie Low-Kramen - Be the Ultimate Assistant: A celebrity assistants secrets to working with any high-powered employer

Praise for Be the Ultimate Assistant

The essential reference guide to the art of managing the details of todays high profile and powerful lifestyles. It doesnt matter if you work for a movie star, middle manager or corporate chairman, this book helps you to achieve an ber-competence that can be used from the boardroom to your living room.

Karen E. Klose, Personal Assistant to Richard Gere

An invaluable text on partnership and communication helping me to prioritize my own personal and professional needs and those of my assistant.

Gabrielle Berberich, Film Director/Producer

The advice doesnt only apply to celebrity assistants, but anyone working with a person whose time is in demand and who has a great deal of pressure. This book will end up dog-eared and covered in post-it notes in a very short space of time.

C.A. Taylor, Celebrity Assistant, London, U.K.

A great accomplishment! Bonnie fully describes the often misunderstood role and day-to-day experience of a celebrity assistant which most definitely translates to the world of all administrative professionals.

Hope Rippere, former CEO Communications Manager,
Hewlett-Packard Company

Five stars for this double delightful team of Bonnie Low-Kramen and Olympia Dukakis who prove a celebrity tell-all can be fun but never mean. You dont have to be a star or an assistant to get an enormous kick out of this revealing and charming book!

Laura Cunningham, Writer, New York

The book is on my desk now and I too am a celebrity assistant. It's a fast read but also a reference book you keep near you. The challenge of pleasing your employer all day, every day is not limited to this profession. As such, I would recommend this book for anyone, in any profession, as well for those who ponder supporting those whose life is in the fast lane.

Claudia Allon, Personal Assistant to Barry Slotnick

The ultimate text for our profession. Written with extraordinary intelligence, priceless advice and plenty of humor; I only wish I had a copy when I first started in the business! I especially applaud the concept of assistants sharing information within our group, we can only benefit from helping one another. Bonnie deserves a standing ovation and a heartfelt thank you from assistants everywhere.

Harriette Holmes, Executive/Artistic Asst. to Michael Wilson, Hartford Stage, Connecticut

I could not put it down. Her advice was very helpful to me in my work with the Chief Medical Officer of a health system. The book was the perfect way to adjust my attitude and renew my passion for my work.

Kalynn Pempek, Executive Assistant, Wisconsin

This book is one-of-a-kind. There is simply nothing else like it out there about our work. What a great help it is for all of us, especially the new generation of PAs.

Susan McTigue, Assistant to Ellen Burstyn

The paradox is that the book is both an instruction manual and a page turner. As a former New York assistant, I discovered that the author has undeniable expertise demonstrated with a refreshing collaborative approach.

Vickie S. Evans, C.E.O., The Red Cape Company, Texas

A treasure! As a result of taking Bonnies class, I was placed with a celebrity and have used her book as my key reference text in doing my job. Whoever you assist, do yourself a favor and buy this book.

Brian Pardus, Former Assistant to David Barton, New York

I want to make a career change and am thinking about being a personal assistant. This book is inspiring, energizing and supportive. I recommend it to anyone who wants to do a great job for someone else while feeling empowered and good about themselves.

Dan Sinisi, Aspiring Assistant, Pennsylvania

Superb job! Most self-help, how-to books are usually pretty boring. Not so of this book!

Anne(Nancy) Hansell, CPS, Senior Administrative Specialist,
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Pennsylvania

Be the

Ultimate Assistant

A celebrity assistants secrets
to working with any
high-powered employer

B ONNIE L OW- K RAMEN

Assistant to Olympia Dukakis

2011 Edition

Edited by Laura Schreiner

Excerpt with permission from Psychology Today Magazine, Copyright 1995

To order this book: www.BonnieLowKramen.com

Copyright 2004, all rights reserved by the author Bonnie Low-Kramen.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior

written permission of the author.

Cover Design by RJ Communications

U.S. Copyright Registration #TX 6-084-373

Be the Ultimate Assistant

A celebrity assistants secrets to working with any high-powered employer

ISBN# 978-0-9763268-1-6

EpubISBN# 978-0-9763268-3-0

MobiISBN# 978-0-9763268-2-3

NK Publications

P.O. Box 1735

Radio City Station

New York, NY 10101

www.nkpublications.com

DEDICATION

Websters Dictionary Definition

ASSISTANT

Noun: A person who helps, aids, abets, does for, enables,
accompanies, attends, escorts, cooperates, comforts, and supports another person

CONTENTS

FOREWORD by Olympia Dukakis

INTRODUCTION

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1 CELEBRITY ASSISTANTS:
AN EVOLVING CAREER

CHAPTER 2 WHAT IT TAKES: QUALITIES AND
SKILLS NEEDED FOR THE WORK

CHAPTER 3 JOB DESCRIPTION:
THE SKYS THE LIMIT

CHAPTER 4 THE ART OF PUBLIC SPEAKING

CHAPTER 5 EVENT PLANNING

CHAPTER 6 GOOD MANNERS MATTER

CHAPTER 7 THE WHERE OF IT:
WORK ENVIRONMENTS

CHAPTER 8 S. C. E. P. (Security, Confidentiality,
Ethics, Principles)

CHAPTER 9 LETS GET FISCAL:
SALARY AND BENEFITS

CHAPTER 10 THE INSIDE SCOOP! SECRETS TO
FINDING AND KEEPING THE
PERFECT ASSISTANT

CHAPTER 11 GLAMOUR, GLITZ AND
OTHER PERKSSOMETIMES!

CHAPTER 12 CELEBRITY ASSISTING:
THE DARK SIDE

CHAPTER 13 HOW DO YOU GET THE JOB?

CHAPTER 14 GENDER IN THE WORKPLACE

CHAPTER 15 RESOURCES-TO-GO

CHAPTER 16 ASSISTANTS IN THE NEWS

CHAPTER 17 IN THEIR OWN WORDS

CHAPTER 18 ITS A WRAP

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Photo by Deborah Feingold

FOREWORD
by Olympia Dukakis

S ince 1986, Bonnie Low-Kramen and I have worked together each of us learning from the other, each of us challenging the other, defining and re-defining ourselves and our relationship, which over the years has changed and evolved a vital dynamic in all successful employer/assistant relationships.

Bonnie was like a daughter to my mother, an aunt to my children, a sister to me.

I suspect that professional and deeply personal lines must cross if you are together for more than two decades as Bonnie and I have been, sharing highs and lows, many new experiences, not to mention an office and three telephone lines.