About Astrid’s story…

In 1998, as the world was pumping with confidence, the dot com boom was starting and there was more money than sense pumping through the global economy, this University of Cape Town commerce graduate landed her dream job! It consisted of black suits, stilettos, Wall Street and the promise of million dollar bonuses.

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) was the highest paying career in the world. It attracted the best and brightest from all around the world. And it was hardcore. It was understood that to graduate into the ranks of those bankers earning million-dollar bonuses, you needed to prove that you were hungry enough to want it. And would do whatever it took. And if you didn’t want to jump through hoops – no sweat! – there were twenty, fifty, hundreds of educated, ambitious candidates clamouring for your place… all more enthusiastic, more motivated, determined to make it where you had failed.

The upside was fantastic! The experience! The exposure! The opportunity to play with the big boys! And earns whacks of cash doing it! And once you’d got in, you’d proved your stripes… the world was your oyster! So there seemed to be no downside.

Except they kept mentioning the lifestyle issues.

Which seemed a little exaggerated.

Until I got in. And experienced it!

In the one year and one day that I worked in investment banking, I had 3 days off. Including weekends and public holidays. And I worked on average from 8 am to midnight, sometimes 2 am, sometimes 4 am, sometimes straight through the night. Depending on the intensity of the all nighters, I would buy a shirt to wear, shower at the gym across the street, and go straight back to work. Sometimes I’d be able to go home, shower and at least change into a fresh suit. The longest stint was 7 all nighters in a row. Which was when you start self-combusting, crying uncontrollably and falling apart. Just like Emma.

And just like Emma experienced, there was no solidarity! That was destroyed by the intense competition. It was all about being better than the guy in the cube next door! It was each man for themselves. Dog eat dog. Too bad if you were a woman!

In the boys club that is investment banking, women needed to work twice as hard to get half as far. Female solidarity didn’t exist. And if there was a bus, and nobody was looking, you can be sure as hell some colleague would shove sideways and – oops! – you’d be under it!

About Emma’s story…

White Knights is Emma Cooper’s story. She’s a twenty six year old British chick who lands with her bum in the butter on Wall Street. Or so everyone thinks. She’s bubbly, bright and prepared to do whatever it takes. Including… oops.

High-flying Brad openly says he’s fast-tracking Emma. Without strings. Or so he says. But he keeps changing personalities: good cop, bad cop, good cop! He’s blonde, ambitious and determined to conquer Wall Street just like he’s conquered the seven highest summits in the world. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes. Including… oops.

Meanwhile Emma is being coached by Kate, her work buddy. Or so Emma thinks! Kate gets her thrills teasing men, especially the powerful rich ones. Like the senior bankers. She’s sexy, seductive and prepared to do whatever it takes. Including… oops.

All this time Anthony is in Africa working for Doctors without Borders! And everyone knows it’s only a question of time before Emma’s great love tracks her down and pops the question. He’s dishy, dark and determined to be a top surgeon. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes. Including… oops.

And so in this rough, tough, competitive, man’s world, Emma finds herself facing her friends, foes and fears. All alone. Without any form of White Knight. And eventually she has to face herself, decide how far she is prepared to compromise and choose the life she really wants. And then do something about it!

But how much is real?

And so how much of Emma is Astrid? And how much of what Astrid experienced did Emma experience?

Well, you can’t write a story about the reality behind the opulent facades and original art, the suits and stilettos unless you’ve been there. You can’t write a story with authentic characters without understanding the personality types of people in that environment. You can’t write about living in New York, without having done so. You can’t write about being a woman in a man’s world, without having experienced it. And you can’t possibly write about surviving so many all nighters in a row, leaving the office at 7 am, showering at the gym across the road, buying a clean shirt at the Banana Republic on the corner and heading back to the office for another long day, without having done it! Because you can’t fudge the emotions…

So are certain bits of the story true? Absolutely.

There were wicked women and supportive men. There were all nighters, midnight walks and private jets. There was brunching, dancing and gay boys. There were see-and-be-seen parties, designer sample sales and high-end cocktailing. The swimming pool really existed! And yes, delighted to come clean and admit that I really did gatecrash the Grammy’s. In 2003. Grin grin

But I’m not Emma. And my boss certainly wasn’t Brad. And Anthony is nobody, Kate is nobody. Luca is nobody. And Prof is nobody. They’re all figments of my imagination.

But they could exist.

Because they’re the sort of people that you find in the crazy, crooked, conflicted world of investment banking! Where it’s all about the deals, the bonus and the brand. Where the stakes only get higher. And where everything – love versus lust, deals versus ideals – is a trade off.

And more about Astrid…

Well this Jozi chick, armed with her fountain pen, journal, commerce degree and stilettos took on the world. And what a ride! I’ve lived, worked, partied and written in London and New York, Cape Town and Jozi.

I’ve worked in investment banking, management consulting and media. So I know how to convert complex to simple; creative to practical; and technical to operational.

I’ve also built 3 dot.com start ups! Priceline.com and About.com in the US and AA Autobay in South Africa. I adore the buzz, the personalities, sorting out the pieces of the puzzle, the chaos and flipping on the switch!

So I’m a black suits and stilettos chick, who also adores jeans, white t-shirts, hats and anything vintage. I’ve traveled to 27 countries in the world, am an Ashtanga yoga teacher, have crossed the Namib desert on horseback with my dad (seriously! 300 kms as the crow flies!), published White Knights, got married to dishy Andrew and been inspired by the phenomenal people I’ve had the privilege of knowing…

And all this time, I’ve been writing. Journals, letters, short stories, group emails and chapters after chapter! Writing for me is imperative, cathartic, a way of making sense of the chaos of our world. Writing allows me the distance to interpret the world around me. And most importantly, writing makes my soul sing.

And along the way I’ve been encouraged… I was one of three South African prose writers awarded the British Council’s Crossing Borders Writing Scholarship in 2004. In the same year, I was a finalist in the Fair Lady Short Story Competition, chosen from 1300 entrants. And now I’ve self-published, people are chatting about my novel, book clubs are inviting me to talk to them, and most importantly readers are enjoying it! Which is simply the most wonderful fabulous thing…

And the next fabulous novel…

…will be finished by 1 November! It’s modern, set in the converging worlds of current Jozi, London and New York and is all about the perceptions, money and power which drive decisions in the new scramble for Africa. Because really, how can a chick live in such a thriving, gorgeous, multidimensional city and not write about it? How can one not record the deal making, schmoozing, politicking, wangling, networking, socializing and backstabbing of the wanna-be’s? And the love affairs! Whew! I am having a ball… and the book is going to be fabulous. It’s all about the seen and the unseen. And society crashing into itself, interacting, sorting itself out and carrying on again. The novel weaves between different people, their lifestyles, their choices and the masks they wear. For behind these masks, it the personal experiences, values and goals that dictate the decisions they make when their worlds start disintegrating. Which is precisely what happens when a love affair ends, a government meddles and someone disappears…

CONTACT ASTRID

I can be reached at astrid@astridfleming.com. I’d love to hear from you, especially your fabulous ideas on how we get White Knights onto Oprah! grin. Because the next huge plan is to get white knights onto the international stage where she can strut her stuff, grin.

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