Be the Ultimate Assistant

A celebrity assistant’s secrets to working with any high-powered employer

The best-selling resource for assistants around the world! Now in its 5th edition. Available in soft cover or e-book.

“Three cheers to Bonnie for being so generous to share with others in one fantastic book what she has learned and mastered over the breadth of her extraordinary career! Become the ultimate assistant indeed and read this book – then read it again.”

– NYC Recruiter

A best-seller, Be the Ultimate Assistant, A celebrity assistant’s secrets to working with any high-powered employer is a rare, first-hand look at the world of a celebrity assistant and its place in the larger realm of all professional assistants. Enlightening and entertaining, this book pulls the curtain back with solid information and true stories from Bonnie Low-Kramen’s 25 years working with Oscar winning actress Olympia Dukakis. Every assistant wants to keep a copy within reach.

What You’ll Learn

Would you know what to do to…

Get a lost passport replaced overnight?
Convince airline personnel to hold a plane for your high-powered employer?
Get the State Police to provide an escort for a celebrity stuck in traffic?
Locate a make-up man when the only clue you have is that he is “in Miami”?
Find the right exotic puppy in time for your employer’s birthday?

Professional assistants know how to do all these things, and much, much more. This book educates and celebrates assistants, and is a must-have resource for helping them strive for excellence and achieve greater success.

This book is a must read not just for “Assistants,” but for any employee at every level from a new trainee to the CEO. Valuable insights and great teachings.

Herb Rubenstein

NYC

I truly loved your book! I became certain of so many things in my work as an EA at the C-level. My relationships are enhanced and the resources in the book are killer.

Mary Holmstrom

Your book has gone viral in Ghana! PAs are reading your book and putting the lessons into practice. It is like a revolution, like rain pouring over dry land. Thank you.

Angela Cassandra Allotey

Ghana

Learn More About the Book

Table of Contents

Foreword by Olympia Dukakis
Introduction
Preface
In Their Own Words…Assistants Speak
Chapter 1 – Celebrity Assistants: An Evolving Career
Chapter 2 – What It Takes: Qualities and Skills Needed for Work
Chapter 3 – Job Description: The Sky’s 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, and Principles
Chapter 9 – Let’s Get Fiscal: Salary and Benefits
Chapter 10 – The Inside Scoop! – Secrets to Finding and Keeping the Perfect Assistant
Chapter 11 – Glamour, Glitz and other Perks…Sometimes!
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 – It’s a Wrap
About the Author
Acknowledgements

Foreword by Olympia Dukakis

Since 1986, Bonnie Low-Kramen and I have worked together – each of us learning from each other, each of us challenging each 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 the professional and deeply personal lines must cross if you are together for almost two decades as Bonnie and I have been sharing an office and three telephone lines.

What I am most aware of is that because of who Bonnie is and the work she performs so well, I found a freedom for myself that is crucial. I am free to name what is important to me and how I want to do things because of Bonnie’s ability to be conciliatory in discussions and negotiations. I am free from those things that drain my energy and time. I am free to make my work my priority.

Bonnie makes herself responsible for everything – she can be depended upon, trusted to follow through. I do not stand watch. Bonnie holds the fort. And all this in addition to the talents and skills that are necessary to run an office, to keep a career scheduled, to keep the finances clear and solid.

How many people after a session with Bonnie have said to me, “I want a Bonnie in my life. How do I get one?” We both earned this relationship through trial and error, and of course, most importantly, through honesty. I have always been struck by the seriousness with which she takes her work, her profession, her career choice.

I am so proud that Bonnie is a founding member and former president of New York Celebrity Assistants, that she lectures, and now, that she has written this book. She has never seen a window she would not open or a corner she would not turn.

She is, in fact, the “ultimate assistant.” If that is what you aspire to, read this book carefully.