Her Story
About Lindsey
I started my career almost 17 years ago after working at my family's cigar shops in the Michigan area, where I was doing private cigar events for the Detroit Pistons, Red Wings, and Detroit Tigers. A customer came into the store one day, loved my personality, and asked me to interview for an EA position even though I had never been an EA before. That led to 7 years in private equity where I became very involved in deal-making, working with investment bankers, looking for different deals, and closing on deals while also managing the personal side. When that principal shifted his life to New York, I moved to Trucklight, owned by Roger Penske and the Kolk brothers, where I supported the whole executive team, handled board meetings and presentations, managed 6 calendars and 4 inboxes, and planned all off-sites from scratch. From there, I worked for a multi-billionaire in Michigan who owned commercial real estate throughout Michigan, Florida, New York, and other areas. I managed his whole private and executive life, including his private plane and crew, and even helped him design out his second plane at Gulfstream. We'd travel looking at extravagant historic homes for friend trips. I also did a short contract with a basketball player before joining my current healthcare compliance company in 2021. Now I work directly for the CEO handling both executive and personal matters. I use AI extensively in my everyday work to make my position more efficient, creating spreadsheets and presentations from scratch using Cloud AI and ChatGPT. I handle all board meetings, comp committee, audit committee, all ELT off-sites, and I started the first President's Club here. I also design and create all company swag from scratch. I have stock sharing in the company and communicate regularly with board members. My boss is also in the movie production industry and is a book writer, so I handle multiple different types of businesses for him.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lindsey
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to being extremely resourceful and building a strong network. I get tons of EAs and PAs reaching out to me daily on LinkedIn asking for advice on how to get to the level I got to, what I've done differently, and what recruiters I could recommend. I've gotten onto calls with them and coached them through it, and I do it for free. I've gotten many women in positions with recruiters that I use who trust me to pass people on. I try to help women get to where I got because there's a lot of women that want to make it, and there are EA jobs that pay 70 grand that expect the world from you. I started at $70,000 when I first started my career, but I've climbed that ladder so high. The key for me is that just because an interview doesn't work now at the position, you never know what the future holds. I always keep doors open, communicate, and stay in contact with people I felt I had a good connection with, even if it wasn't the right time. I deal with a lot of private aircraft people, yacht industry contacts, chefs, anyone you could possibly need. That's the main thing in this industry - you have to be resourceful, and if you're not, they don't need you. I also really sprung up after working for that private equity firm where my boss was like a mentor and taught me the business-savvy side of the business. Being able to sit in board meetings is very trustworthy - not everyone gets to sit in a board meeting at a company unless you're on the board or an advisor. To have that trust from the CEO is amazing.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell women that there are ways to interview for certain types of positions, and there are certain ways you should answer questions, because it's very important. I wish I would have gotten with different recruiters a long time ago, had I known the doors that open with them. I learned it throughout my career, but I wish I would have learned it a lot sooner because I make really great money, but I would have been a lot higher than I am now. There are EA and PA jobs that pay $400,000 and up, but the principal has to be a fit for you. You have to do your research on recruitment agencies and not be afraid to jump out there to those higher positions. You have to reach out to people and network - I'm very big on networking. Just because an interview doesn't work now at the position, you never know what the future holds. Always keep doors open, communicate, and stay in contact with people you felt you had a good connection with, but it just wasn't the right time. The main thing in this industry is you have to be resourceful. You basically have to walk into the role with a book of business - you have to walk in with your resources, no one's gonna hold your hand. You just go out and do it. If they ask you for something, there really aren't no no's in this position. It's just get it done and figure it out. There's a pool of really high-level EAs and PAs, but it's a small pool. It's a very sophisticated role - if you don't know what you're doing and you're not resourceful, you basically can't succeed.
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