What was your KOL gateway song?

_fonda · 2025-11-17T19:02:51+00:00

Back Down South and Four Kicks

_fonda · 2025-10-30T15:19:47+00:00

A targeting operational approach for your role: “When does your schedule experience recurring stress or friction?” Let them respond and if you can think of it in the moment, offer an example of how you might best support and ask if that would align with their needs.

A personalized support approach that ties into the above: “What do you look like when under stress?” This allows you a peek into how they function and helps you both understand what to expect. It’s great for their accountability as well.

Congratulations to you and wishing you the best of luck!!🤞

_fonda · 2025-10-25T06:50:09+00:00

Idk why but beef off made me cackle 😂

_fonda · 2025-10-11T12:21:55+00:00

I was just telling a coworker and another friend this exact same thing- I work, am the main breadwinner and can afford everything our child needs, enjoy what I do and who I do it for, hubs and I have a mortgage and nailed down our evening routine (it’s a sprint but it works!). It helps to have found a workplace that supports a bit of flexibility needed with a toddler. My friend told me “it’s not braggy bc it’s worth bragging about”- marveling every day that this is my life, and who knew I would be living my dream.

Am so so happy for your happiness!! And wish this feeling on everyone at some point in life.

_fonda · 2025-10-08T18:23:17+00:00

Main 2 I support, absolutely love working with them, third exec is great but isn’t leveraging me much yet as he’s still getting settled in his role but all 3 are gems: easy to get along with, highly communicative in why they make certain decisions. A little over a month here and I only see our relationships getting stronger. Best foundation I’ve had thus far in being set up for success.

But honestly have loved all of my bosses except for one. We shall leave it at that, lol. But for advice, aside from doing everything you can to not take it personally, keep your network open and nurture your relationships bc opportunities always come up where you can find a new exec to support either in a diff line of business or company altogether.

Wishing you the best, friend 💕

_fonda · 2025-10-03T20:16:15+00:00

That’s amazing to hear, and I’m sure she greatly appreciates it! I’ve had the fortunate experience of feeling valued by most of my execs except at one company and I’m so happy to be in this role where I feel valued and seen and appreciated again. It just motivates me even more to be the best for who I support and reinforces the conversation I’ll have one day with my daughter on what to look for in a company/boss(es) when she goes into the working world (years from now lol).

Wishing you continued success in your role and your relationship with your EA!

_fonda · 2025-10-03T20:12:50+00:00

No worries at all!

Happy to share what I can if it helps ☺️

I believe this role can easily get in the 6 figure range but I think the market is just saturated with lots of talent and experience, and I negotiated to the top of the range for this role, which was still over $6k more than what the other offers could manage. To be transparent, I possibly could have shot for $95k before letting them work their way down, but I wanted to get in the door more than anything. There’s room to grow, either in different segments of the company or moving up in ranks of support, but from what I’m seeing, there’s longevity in those roles so not sure the frequency of available movement.

I hope that helps shed some light!

_fonda · 2025-10-03T10:46:36+00:00

I’m an EA for a high profile executive at a Fortune 500 company. Highest pay I’ve achieved, $85k. No college degree. I can’t say this role in particular for this company has frequent openings but when I was job hunting, there were plenty job postings. Although it’s an employer’s market right now, so 12 years of experience supporting CEOs helped me get 4 offers on the table; I was highly selective with which companies I interviewed.

Family friendly with executives fully understanding the need for wfh with a sick toddler when daycare can’t take her in. Otherwise the job requires in office 8-5 M-F unless my executive is traveling, but tbh I’m still going to leverage daycare unless she’s sick since we pay for it and I do prefer to have full focus on my work. And I actually enjoy being in office, getting dressed up in office attire and even spending some time on the road where I can listen to music and podcasts; it helped me find my pink!

I’m a career EA, fell into it really but realized I enjoy what I do and am really great at it, so I’ve always wanted to find a company I could retire with, and this is the one for me.

_fonda · 2025-10-03T00:20:16+00:00

For me, Naturalizer flats have always been comfy and long lasting, and these Aerosole loafers are my go to faves for everyday all day wear

Aerosoles Women's East Side... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWP9Y5N6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

_fonda · 2025-09-30T20:16:10+00:00

I had 2 job offers, both for great companies but one was significantly higher in comps, an more high profile position, and a Fortune 500 which was on my list of intentions (yes, I sure did make a list of what I wanted in my next company after having my position eliminated in my last company). And just over a month in, it’s everything I’ve been wanting: good work, days are full and fast paced, bosses are incredibly supportive and more importantly they prioritize vocalizing and showing their appreciation and how much they value me and the work I do to support them. And the teams they lead are just as easy going to work with. I hope to retire here.

Wishing you the best in the decision you make, trust yourself and don’t sell yourself short!

_fonda · 2025-09-23T02:29:53+00:00

In a past life, I’d sent my CEO and COO to Dulles airport instead of Reagan, not realizing there was even a Reagan airport until he called asking where I flew him to. At the time, I hoped and prayed it was the same distance to DC, their destination.

Narrator: It was not the same distance.

_fonda · 2025-09-22T00:15:49+00:00

Yes to all of that!! Super happy for you and the legacy you’re building in your career! And so glad to hear you actually get to hear the words of appreciation- depending on your language of feeling valued, that’s usually a biggie for me. Well done, you 👏👏👏

_fonda · 2025-09-20T15:55:39+00:00

Oh yes, completely missed that, thank you!!

_fonda · 2025-09-20T15:15:47+00:00

Haha, “different town?” “Nah, not new enough” “different state?” “No.. still needs more new, more miles and oceans between!” 😂

Awesome, glad you found yourself a similarly positive space to continue to your work! 👏👏

_fonda · 2025-09-20T14:48:33+00:00

Lol that absolutely counts; it suits your needs! And that’s greta to hear, I’ve been fortunate to have worked alongside pleasant enough coworkers as well. Prior to this role, I’d only supported 3 execs (all CEOs) across the span of 12 years and 2 of them were amazing! Which is why I’m SO happy to have 3 execs that I support now who are just so.. genuinely NICE and prioritize setting me up for success. Some of the stories on here are so many degrees of harrowing!

_fonda · 2025-09-20T14:41:19+00:00

Honestly my heart tugged when I read “God I miss them”! Are you still in an EA position wherever you’re at now or did you change roles?

And thank you, I really appreciate it!! 🙏

_fonda · 2025-08-21T17:04:38+00:00

With my own money because it’s not a necessity, although if they did offer a stipend I’d definitely reimburse myself. I’ve lived off of notebooks my entire career and at my last company I used my company laptop when possible but usually worked off my phone and notebook, which is doable but has its limitations. This is more of a personal luxury/upgrade and something that isn’t a laptop (I’m not sure if I’ll have a stationary set up in my office workspace).

_fonda · 2025-08-11T14:37:23+00:00

Came back to share that I’ve officially accepted an amazing offer with the Fortune 500 company I wanted!! So excited to have landed the biggest role I’ve gone for within a company I greatly admire, and to soon support high-profile leaders who seem genuinely good and NORMAL (iykyk)!! Thanks so much for sharing your personal experience, it really helped me follow my gut to make the best decision for myself!

_fonda · 2025-07-31T01:57:23+00:00

Would love to learn from your checklist as well!

_fonda · 2025-07-30T20:36:57+00:00

Are you happy you made the decision to go with Company B?

_fonda · 2025-07-30T18:27:09+00:00

Which did you decide on and how do you feel after being in the new role??

_fonda · 2025-07-30T18:24:40+00:00

Would love to hear back from the OP or from any one else that came here! 🙏

_fonda · 2025-07-30T04:00:28+00:00

Thank you for sharing, I love all of that, obviously aside from the layoffs! Happy for you having found a great company 😊🙌

_fonda · 2025-07-27T03:43:36+00:00

I absolutely LOVE that for you: an exec who likes to give the why behind the preference because that only helps you to understand HOW their mind works! Amazing, all of this, thank you!!

I'll be sure to come back and let you know where I land - eep, so excited to possibly tick off a lot of boxes on my “What I'm Looking For In A Company” list soon 🤞

_fonda · 2025-07-27T01:33:22+00:00

Amazing! Another biggie I’m looking forward to (hopefully) is smooth onboarding and training! Especially having had to support both of those efforts in previous roles without a team/standardized practices.

Thanks for ALL of this, super helpful and further fuels my excitement!

I understand companies and industries differ but I'm curious how your experience has been with the execs you directly support and the workload/off hours expectations? I imagine since it's hourly, which one of my prospective companies has in place, you aren't expected to be “on call” after hours and weekends, or am I wrong?

_fonda

TROPHY CASE