Chapter 5
Isabella
Work was draining as usual. Focusing on emerging markets in Asia was costly and time-consuming. We were testing to see if our cosmetic products would appeal to the Korean and Chinese markets.
I had been working on this partnership with the Zinghai Ma Corporation for months, and if this deal went through, it would catapult me into being a leader in this industry, as it should. On the eve of our initial public offering, this company, this brand I’d built from the ground up, would be an economic powerhouse. This was all I had focused on for the last year, and the stress was getting to me.
With the constant reporting on our competitive strategy and market fluctuations, coupled with my friends in my ear concerning my husband and everything else, it just felt as though I was ready to pull my freaking hair out. Being a successful businesswoman at the age of thirty-one seemed like a great accomplishment to some, but none of that mattered if you weren’t emotionally satisfied with your home life. I barricaded myself in my work for far too long, and my husband rarely offered any comfort.
“What are you thinking about?” asked Maya, my corporate assistant and cousin. She poked her head into my office without knocking, as usual.
“How many times have I asked you to knock?” I said to her politely. She knew how stressed I was and tried her best to make my life easier, even going as far as making my lunch and picking up my dry cleaning without me having to ask. Bless her heart. Without her, I’d be lost.
“Come in, Maya.” She closed the door behind her and placed the company’s financial breakdown on my desk for an upcoming meeting with our CFO and legal team. I was so not in the mood for this right now, but to be successful, I had to push myself. My father told me that when I was a child. In fact, he hammered the phrase into my head for as long as I could remember. I often thought of my mother and father’s relationship and how much they loved each other.
I wished my marriage were as passionate and loving as theirs. My mother insisted on marrying for love and not riches. I could hear her voice in my head—A woman can make her own fortune, buy her own house, and build her own empire. The only things you should want a man for are his love, support, loyalty, and comfort, she’d said. I took her words to heart. But it seemed as though I’d only gotten one of her wishes correct.
“Are you ready to begin?” my CFO, Oliver Morehouse, asked me as I stared at the wall, wholly dazed out of reality. I hadn’t realized he’d entered the room I was so out of it.
“Yes, please. Let’s get this rolling,” I said, trying to stay focused.
“The IPO should net us millions in new funding for the Asia expansion, Isabella. I understand you still wish to be the majority owner of the company, am I correct?” he asked. Of course I planned to have a majority stake in the company, as I didn’t want some board dictating to me the direction I should take the business I spent my entire life building. I’d be damned if I was forced out of my own company like Steve Jobs was from Macintosh in the eighties while some board who didn’t know the market ran it into the ground.
“Yes. Eighty percent share in this company.”
“Eighty percent?” he asked.
“Yes. When we go public, I will own the majority of preferred stock. I don’t care if I have to buy the shares myself when the IPO opens. I want to structure this so the majority sold are common stock, or Class B shares. I already own seventy percent of the company, as I already paid all our debtors. The majority of the profits went right back into the business or were used to buy out other investors. With the exception of the Bank of New York and Vanguard, I own this company.”
They all just stared at me. Oliver knew I was no fool, and he knew I was a strict businesswoman. I knew what was best for this company, as I’d watched it grow through all the hardship we’d faced. It was easy to be ruthless, but I found the more subtle and polite approach to work wonders, especially when it came to customers. A woman knew what a woman wanted, and only a woman could understand the wants and needs of other women in the cosmetics and fashion industries. Finally, my dream was coming to fruition.