The Balance Project

by Susie Orman Schnall

  “And green juice!” Matt says triumphantly.

  “Yes! Green juice,” Katherine smiles.

  “Speaking of which, you and Evan Hewitt started Green Goddess almost twenty years ago, and now it’s a multibillion-dollar business. You’ve got a successful national chain of healthy restaurants and juice bars, an e-commerce business that does over a billion dollars in sales every year, a magazine with a circulation of more than three million, and a vibrant website with more than four million unique visitors. You’re at the pinnacle of your career, plus you have a husband and two small children. Do you think you’ve found balance, and if so, with all that on your plate, how?”

  “Absolutely,” Katherine says.

  “Really?” Disbelieving tone. So Matt.

  “Really.” Convincing tone. So Katherine. “But I don’t think balance is something to be found. I think balance is something to be cultivated. And I feel like I’ve got all my ducks in a row. Green Goddess has solidified itself as the premier wellness brand in America. Revenue and earnings are growing at an accelerated rate as more and more Americans appreciate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle. We’re about to open our first restaurant in London. My family is doing great. I feel fantastic. Things can’t get much better than that, Matt.”

  “That’s a lot to manage. Do you ever feel like things are out of control?”

  “Sure it’s a lot to manage. But, to be fair, I’m not doing it all myself. And that’s something I stress in the book. You’ve got to build a support system. I’ve got people helping me at work—”

  Yay, me.

  “. . . And at home. But for people who are doing it all on their own, I give a lot of tips in my book.”

  “Honey!” I hear someone saying loudly.

  “Oh, right, sorry,” I say to Lorraine. “So, I’m so sorry to bother you with this, and I’m in such a ridiculous hurry, but can I forward you an e-mail from this phone and then have you print it? I would be so appreciative.”

  “Who are you?” Lorraine asks curiously, tilting her head to the side.

  “Right, yes, I’m Lucy Cooper. I’m Katherine Whitney’s assistant,” I say confidently.

  “Katherine who?” Lorraine asks.

  “Katherine Whitney,” I say, pointing to the television. “She’s the author of The Balance Project.” I usually don’t have to explain who Katherine is.

  “Oh, right, the balance lady.”

  “Yes, right, the balance lady,” I say, trying so hard to be patient and kind. “I’m so sorry to rush you like this but we have a very important deal going on in London now. We’re expanding our restaurant business overseas, and they need this document signed, scanned, and e-mailed back in like, five minutes, so if you don’t mind giving me an e-mail address I can send this to so you can print it I would be forever grateful, and I’d be happy to give you some vouchers to use at a Green Goddess juice bar.” I smile at her and shift my wait nervously from one foot to the other.

  “Oh, I love those juices. Sure, honey, no problem,” Lorraine says. She gives me the e-mail address, and I forward her the document. As she’s working on it on her end, I look back up at the television. It’s amazing that Katherine can look so calm and poised while her London deal, which she has been thoroughly engrossed in lately and which is her current pet project, is in a state of cardiac arrest. If she only knew that the whole thing might be put in jeopardy if we don’t get this document signed. But she knows none of that right now. Instead, she’s her usual composed self with everything under control. Another thing I hope to learn someday from Katherine.

  “You’ve been compared to another successful businesswoman with a book. Sheryl Sandberg. She took a lot of heat for Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. Would you say you’re different from her?”

  “I have a lot of admiration for Sheryl,” Katherine says. “And I think Lean In is well researched and powerful. I know Sheryl. We’ve been on a lot of panels together. At a lot of conferences. Sheryl and I have a lot of similarities in the sense that we’re both COOs of large companies, we both are working moms, we both have experienced a lot of success that we’re—and I’ve talked to Sheryl about this—incredibly grateful for. But our missions with our books are different, and our messages are different. Sheryl is focusing on getting and keeping women in the conference rooms and especially in the boardrooms. What I’m trying to do with The Balance Project is help those women stay there by giving them the tools to manage their lives and remain sane.”

  “Is there competition between you and Sheryl?” Matt asks.

  “Of course not,” Katherine says. “We’re in totally different business spaces. We’ve been really supportive of each other. She wrote an endorsement for the back cover of my book. Sheryl and I are good.”

  “Here you go, honey,” Lorraine says.

  “Thank you so much!” I say running out of her office as I try to find my way toward the set so I can catch Katherine as soon as she walks off.

  “What about those vouchers?” I hear Lorraine shout.

  “I’ll bring them by after the interview!” I shout back, halfway down the hall.

  “You can’t go in there!” I turn around and see Goatee Boy holding up his hand to stop me as I screech to a halt at the edge of the set. “That’s an active set,” he says curtly, clearly enjoying the power he wields over this tiny jurisdiction: the set border.

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. Steve,” I say. “I have to get my boss to sign something as soon as she finishes her interview.” This dragging interview. There’s no way I’m going to get this document to Nigel in ten minutes. We’re already at nine minutes. But it looks like they might be wrapping up. Katherine’s phone rings again.

  “Katherine Whitney’s phone. This is Lucy,” I say.

  “Shhhhhhhhh!” Steve hisses at me. I give him a dirty look and walk away from his empire.

  “Lucy. I’m trying to be calm here, but I need that document NOW!” It’s Nigel. He started off calmly but ended in a really loud and angry NOW.

  “Nigel, I know. I’m doing all I can. I have the document printed, and I’m just waiting for Katherine to finish her interview,” I say, quietly, trying to sound professional despite the fact that I feel like a three-year-old getting screamed at by her mommy. “I’ll have it signed and e-mailed back to you in a few minutes.” The phone goes dead. I thought the English were supposed to have good manners. My stomach is still being trampled by those African elephants, but I tell myself to breathe. There’s nothing I can do until Katherine is done. I walk back toward the set and strain to hear. . . .

  “So, remind us what exactly is in The Balance Project.” Matt says.

  Oh, good lord.

  Katherine sits up taller and gestures with her hands. “The Balance Project is made up of four main sections. The first section highlights the research and statistics that confirm that, indeed, this is an issue in America. In the second section I feature interviews with successful women talking about balance. The third section gives women strategies and tips on how to achieve balance featuring the GLOW plan, which as you may know is also the name of our bestselling green juice.”

  “I have one every morning,” Matt says, flashing a smile.

  “Fantastic,” Katherine says, flashing a smile of her own, while crossing her nude patent leathers.

  “And the fourth section?” Matt asks.

  “The fourth section is a workbook with a variety of elements. First, it has the exact questions that I asked of all the women who are interviewed in the book, with spaces for the reader to write down her own answers. It’s an enlightening exercise for women, to say the least, to truly shine light on how they’re doing with this issue. I also have a section on setting priorities and managing your time. And there’s a manifesto and pledge for women to fill out and commit to.”

  Come on, people. Wrap it up already. I’m keeping myself calm by biting on a stress-induced canker sore inside my bottom lip. Fantastic.

  �
�Back to those interviews,” Matt says. “We’re not talking minor leagues here. You interviewed, among other household names, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Angelina Jolie.”

  “Yes, but I also interviewed women whose names you don’t know. My goal is not to alienate readers by only focusing on women with resources. I certainly wanted to include the interviews with the famous women because their stories and perspectives are important and aspirational. But it was more important to me to include interviews with teachers, nurses, retail store managers, police officers, bank tellers, real estate agents. Everyday women who aren’t in corner offices, who don’t have secretaries, who don’t have an army of nannies at hand. These are the women who can teach us the most about balance, and they are well represented in this book.”

  Fuck, Matt. Wrap. It. Up.

  “I, along with what seems to be the whole world, have read the book and it is incredibly comprehensive,” Matt says, nodding. Impressed.

  “It is. What people might not know, is that we also have a robust companion website where readers can learn more, read interviews that didn’t make it into the book, and most importantly, join an active community of women like themselves to share ideas and support one another.”

  “What one piece of advice would you give to viewers about balancing work and life?”

  “To be confident about having it all. It’s definitely possible. There’s a lot out there about women not being able to have it all, and I don’t believe that. We’re all capable of succeeding in our careers, our home lives, and as women. It’s just a matter of believing in yourself and doing what it takes. Doing it all is most definitely possible. It’s as simple as that,” Katherine says, flashing her money smile.

  “As simple as that, folks. Well, there you have it. Katherine Whitney, thank you so much for joining us. The book is called The Balance Project. We’ll be back with more on Today after these messages.”

  Cut.

  Katherine and Matt stand up and I see them hug. Two people with all the time in the world. She is way too calm for someone whose deal is disintegrating along with every ounce of confidence I have in this being resolved triumphantly. I start to head toward the set but Officer Goatee Boy stops me so I tap my foot and try to get Katherine’s attention by waving my arms frantically in the air.

  “What are you doing?” Goatee Boy asks sarcastically.

  “My job,” I say as I sneer at him and continue my frantic gesticulations. Finally Katherine heads toward me.

  “Lucy! What are you doing?” Katherine asks in a confused voice.

  “Katherine, thank God. Okay,” I say breathlessly. “Nigel called and the London lawyers need you to review some changes to the contract and sign off on them and Nigel said he needs the signed document back in ten minutes or you might miss some registration deadline and that was like fifteen minutes ago and you need to do this right now!” I say, trying to stress the urgency of my request.

  “Seriously? He’s so melodramatic. His final meeting with the lawyers isn’t until tomorrow. We’re fine,” she says, giving me a sympathetic look.

  I stare at her in shock. “Are you kidding me? He’s such an asshole! I’ve been running around for the last ten minutes like a freaking beauty pageant contestant looking for butt tape.”

  “Oh, Luce. I’m sorry. You know Nigel.”

  “Yes, I know he’s an asshole, or I should say arsehole, but he sounded like this was for real.”

  “Well, even if it is, they can wait five more minutes. I’ll call him. Sorry about that,” she says kindly.

  “It’s okay. At least he got my adrenaline pumping this morning. Hopefully, that will count as exercise.”

  Katherine laughs. “Did your butt-tape pursuit give you any opportunity to watch the interview?”

  “Yes, there were times during my butt-tape pursuit when I had to wait for things, so I watched part of it. You were amazing. But I’m not surprised. You always nail things like that.” She does.

  “Thank you, Lucy. That means so much. Okay, let me call Nigel and tell him to stop abusing you,” she says as she takes her phone from me and starts dialing.

  I trudge behind her as we walk back toward the dressing room to collect our stuff. It’s not even 9:00 a.m. Just another typical morning in the life of Lucy Cooper, the very unbalanced and overworked assistant extraordinaire to America’s Darling of Balance.

  Chapter Two

  Katherine and I leave the NBC building and find Pancho idling on West Fiftieth Street. Pancho is Katherine’s driver. He’s been driving her for as long as I’ve been working for her, which is almost three and a half years. Black Escalade ESV. Standard New York City mode of transport for the wealthy and wannabes. Katherine is comfortably in category one. (Don’t worry, I remembered to give Lorraine her vouchers.)

  We hurry into the car, as a cop yells at Pancho to stop idling, and we head uptown. We’ll drop Katherine at the ABC Studios building on Sixty-Seventh and Columbus where she’s taping LIVE with Kelly and Michael, and then Pancho will take me back to the Green Goddess offices. I was supposed to go to all of Katherine’s media appearances with her today, but there’s too much going on back at the office. Even though this job is demanding and not exactly what I thought I’d be doing at this stage of my career, I am so appreciative of everything Katherine’s done for me. She’s the grow light and I’m the germinating seed.

  My senior year at Duke, when I was finalizing what to do when I grew up, I decided I wanted to work on websites. Not from a tech perspective, more from a marketing and content perspective. The most opportunities were in New York City and that, along with the fact that my boyfriend Nick was at NYU Law School, made it easy for me to decide where to move upon graduation. The job market was tight, but I managed to get three interviews at companies with reputable and active digital-media departments: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and Green Goddess & Company.

  Green Goddess was my number-one choice. My mother was a longtime subscriber to Green Goddess Magazine so I had been reading the magazine forever. And though I have a weakness for sugar- and fat-laden coffees and processed food-like products made mostly of partially hydrogenated oils and ingredients I can’t pronounce, in my heart of hearts I was a health nut. Or would be someday. I was a little scared of working in Martha’s exacting world of pastel perfection, and I wasn’t what anyone in their right mind would call a “fun, fearless female,” so I was thrilled when I got a call back after my interview at Green Goddess. It went something like this:

  “Hi Lucy. This is Emma from Green Goddess’s human resources department. We thought your interview was strong, and we think you’d be a great asset to the company. The only teensy little problem is that we ended up hiring internally for the digital-media spot. There is, however, a fabulous and highly coveted position that just opened up as the assistant to our chief financial officer. I know it’s not exactly what you were hoping for, but it’s a good way to get your foot in the door here at Green Goddess. I actually started in the events department even though I wanted to be in HR, and look where I am now.”

  Look where you are now, Emma from HR. Sitting in your tiny beige HR cubicle with its knockoff Aeron chair, dashing my digital-media dreams, and offering me a dull secretarial position with some crusty, old, number-crunching bean counter. No, thank you.

  I hope you don’t think me ungrateful. I realize it was a solid job offer with a paycheck and benefits in a terrible economy, but I was young. Right out of college. I had a digital dream. You can’t blame a girl with a digital dream.

  “Lucy,” judicious Nick said when I told him of the lovely Emma from HR’s offer, “Take the job. It’s a great opportunity for you to get your foot in the door. You just have to work for the guy for a year or so, and then you’ll be in a perfect position to get a different job there. Definitely take it.”

  “Lucy, dear,” my mom said. “That’s fantastic. I know it’s not what you want to do, but it’s a job, h
oney. And a great way to get your foot in the door. It sounds like you should not pass that up.”

  “Luce,” my oldest brother Matt said. “It’s tough out there right now. This sounds like a great opportunity to get your foot in the door.”

  After realizing that getting your foot in the door seemed to be highly valued by all the people I respected most in the world, I called the lovely Emma from HR back. It went something like this: “This is Lucy Cooper. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I’ll take it.”

  I started working for Richie Cunningham, the CFO of Green Goddess, late in the summer of 2010. He was born way before Happy Days first aired so his name, the same as Ron Howard’s character from the legendary TV show, was a coincidence, yet still a never-ending source of humor for me. I had watched a lot of Happy Days reruns after school with my brothers. While I was grateful to, bear with me, get my foot in the door of what was a great company to work for—supercool offices at Columbus Circle, beautiful lemon-yellow and grass-green decor with modern white desks and reclaimed wood floors, a subsidized and healthy cafeteria, free juice bar, nice people, generous benefits, and a relaxed dress code that didn’t even begin to approach what I heard was going down at Condé Nast—I did not like my job one itty-bitty bit.

  I realized I had to pay my dues. I had a good attitude. I did whatever Richie Cunningham asked me to do. I answered his phones politely, I fetched his turkey sandwiches on white with extra mustard and coleslaw, and I efficiently collated his dry and lifeless little PowerPoints. I wasn’t one of those whiny entitled millennials. In fact, I worked my little entry-level tail off and kept my grumbling to myself. But the work was boring. Richie Cunningham was usually, at best, moody, and at worst, plain old mean. And on occasion, Richie Cunningham had a really, really bad temper.