Lois at 18

I was 18 years old my first day on the job as a copy girl at Women’s Wear Daily. That meant I was a messenger. The date was September 9, 1966.That was one of the most exciting days of my life.

A few weeks earlier, I experienced one of the worst days when I was fired from a job I had at an insurance agency in Hempstead, Long Island. I was only there for a week when the manager fired me. I was clueless what the place was really all about, so maybe that was the reason for my dismissal. Or perhaps it was because I yakked too much to the girl next to me.

It didn’t matter. I was so upset I went straight to bed and cried my eyes out. My older brother, already in the work force and living on his own, came to see me. He stood at the side of my bed and said a few words that changed my life. “Go find a job that you can do better than anyone else.”

I wasn’t quite sure I knew what he meant, so I asked for clarification. He told me to find a job that I felt qualified to do and be the best at.

Strange how someone’s words can change your life. The possibility of finding a job with my name on it gave me so much hope that I bounced out of bed to search the “Help Wanted” ads in the New York Times, print edition. Ha,ha!

It didn’t take long for me to find my dream job as a messenger. I applied for the job, got an interview, and a man named Frank Tricarico hired me. I was a kid from Queens, lived in a predominately Jewish neighborhood, and my universe was probably a 15-square mile radius. I vividly remember walking into WWD’s city room for the first time on Fifth Avenue and 12th St, Greenwich Village. The room was filled with bohemians, ingenues, fashion-plates, suits, men that looked like women, women that looked like men, and kids that looked like me.

I knew instantly that I had found the one job I could do better than most. I picked up editorial copy from one reporter’s desk after a bell that beckoned me rang out and delivered it to the proof reader. If you think about it, I am still doing the same thing today. I am distributing copy from one person to another. Nowadays, I just click a spot on the screen that says “send.”

It has been quite a journey. Thank you SZS.