Confessions of a Corporate Slut - Jacqueline Gum
In CONFESSIONS OF A CORPORATE SLUT, Roberta conquers a bare-knuckle, male-dominated industry and achieves unparalleled success as an overachieving sales pro, entrepreneur, and corporate manager. But something is missing in her life. Marriage. Family. Purpose. When Roberta finds love, she is oblivious to the astronomical losses she will sustain—including pride, self-esteem and money—the tradeoff she makes to help her CEO husband push his manufacturing company to the pinnacle of its industry. When Roberta moves out of the family home at seventeen, her only working experience is a $1.35 gig at Dairy Queen. Unqualified and underage, she cajoles her way into managing a new restaurant and bar. Eventually she realizes the sales profession offers the best way to maximize her income, so she hits the road in hose and heels and a fifty-pound sample case of glassware, stir sticks, and beverage napkins. Little did she know her success would someday propel her into the unfamiliar role of the ideal corporate wife. Roberta is the polar opposite of a victim as she faces each challenge with her trademark mixture of spunk and grace. Her wry sense of humor intertwines with conflict, weaving a tapestry rich in humor and irony. Inspired by a true story CONFESSIONS OF A CORPORATE SLUT, is a tale of ambition and failure…a tale of emotional connection and disconnection … of support and about-faces … of fear and loathing…of love and hate. And a story that is all too often being played out in today’s corporate culture.
Right off the bat I am going to tell you that I know next to nothing about business or how business is done. What I do know is that it's pretty hard to have a worthwhile career when you have a vagina versus a penis. I don't care how far we have come in the whole female empowerment movement, women are not taken as seriously as men are. It's just a fact. I will say that some of the business talk in the book was confusing to me but it's not enough to turn you away from the book- you'll get through it.
Honestly, this is a story that I feel a lot of women could relate to one on level or another. Raise your hand if you visioned your life very differently than how it turned out to be a few years after marriage? Right- pretty much all of us. If someone had told me ten years ago that at age 30 I would not have a budding career as an executive assistant but instead I would be working part time for spending money, volunteering at my kid's school and being a little home maker- oh how I would have laughed. Because these are all of the things I never really wanted to be. The fact is that I like to work and I like to work a lot. I enjoy working on assignments and deadlines and wearing heels to the office and being the competent assistant to someone. I really enjoy that. I really miss that. But the reality is that my husband works 60+ hours a week and he needs me to hold down the house, take care of the kids, deal with their schooling, run all of the errands, and keep it all together and then be ready for him when he comes home.
And I do it well. Which is probably the ultimate downfall. Because if I wasn't good at this, surely I could go back to work full time and all would be well, right?
So I really related to Roberta on a particular level. She gets married and slowly drifts from a career she not only excels at but she truly loves, to being the unpaid corporate wife cleaning up her husband's messes. She propels him and his company to new levels with her experience and her advice, and she believes that it'll all work out for her because it's what she was promised. And you'd think Roberta is just this lay down and take it kind of woman but she's actually the complete opposite. She isn't afraid to stand up to a man, voice an opinion, or tell it like it is - it's what has gotten her where she is in her career.
What is truly amazing to me is how a marriage can start out so strong and full of promise and just slowly deteriorate. This is basically a tale of such a marriage and what happens when you have one person who is seemingly in denial and one person who couldn't be trying any harder to run in the opposite direction of their spouse. And then the kicker is when she's in the middle of her divorce and her husband has the BALLS to basically strip her of everything. It's basically every tale of woe you've ever seen or heard of when a marriage falls apart and one person decides to be a total selfish asshole. Nobody wants to go into a marriage wondering what they'll do if it doesn't work out- but really, that should be something you consider. My mom always told me when growing up, "You don't want to grow up and be a man's doormat. Never, ever rely on a man to get you by." and I live with that in my head all of the time. I may not make a lot, but I know that if Matt and I divorced I could get a full time job, even if it was just a fast food place, and land on my feet. I wouldn't need Matt around to get me by and honestly- I think our marriage is better for it. Who wants that kind of pressure knowing that they are the sole person holding an entire family afloat? In these economic times, that's just unrealistic.
The greatest part of this book is that as you're reading it? You feel like this is a long story you're hearing from a long lost girlfriend over lunch and drinks. There are spots where you know exactly what's going to happen because you already see the components for failure clicking into place but yet you continue to be stunned that a person could be so vindictive.
I basically finished the book and proceeded to tell Matt that if we ever got divorced? Everything will be 50/50 and he won't be an asshole if he'd like to keep his balls. He clearly looked alarmed and suggested I stop reading so much because clearly I'm growing delusional. Which, maybe I am, but really. Have some respect for your wife and recognize what she brings to the table. She may not be bringing in income, but if your house is in order and your children are cared for- she deserves to have this acknowledged.
So- if you are a divorcee or have an asshole husband currently, this is probably a great book for you. Or, if you are happily married, it probably wouldn't hurt to read it so you can appreciate that your husband is not a jerk. The book is available HERE and you can visit Jacqueline's website HERE.
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