From the Boardroom to the Bedroom and Back Again

Carrie Hooks, Jenny Chalk and Cami Thompson are three Cleveland-based twentysomethings with a wryly pragmatic (and utterly post-modernly American) approach to dating. The friends founded the Board of Love, a three-member roundtable devoted to using a business-minded focus to help Thompson find Mr. Right. They hold formal meetings, have business cards and recruit edifying guest speakers, all in the name of honing their relationship resumes. The Board of Love was recently the subject of a Cleveland Magazine feature and an ensuing minor maelstrom at Jezebel. The ladies behind the hype have graciously agreed to offer GenMeh readers their tongue-firmly-in-cheek wisdom on the parallels between the job hunt and their man hunt.

Photo by Jerry Mann, Cleveland Magazine

In what ways are managing your love life and managing your career similar? What are the glaring differences?

Taking care of business and Cami’s love life career are similar in that both need lots of attention, dedication, and hard work.  So long as you don’t give the milk away for free, it’s only a matter of time until you’ve got yourself a cash cow in a bull market! Ultimately, when your stock is down, a merger of equals is the best way to set it back on track.

There are only a couple of differences that we can think of.  One is you shouldn’t make out with the mail guy at work. Even if you think no one else is in the copy room.  Another is that if you break up with your boyfriend, you’re not required to wait around for two weeks while he looks for someone new.

What do you think is more difficult – finding love or landing your dream job? Why?

Both are tough – the only way to get either is to listen to the good advice you get from the Board. It may be the company board of directors, a job board or your own board of love; whoever it is, they’re the experts. It takes two, baby…or in BOL’s case, three.

What have you learned from the BOL experience that you think would help you or your peers in the work world?

Trying to get Cami to take advice on dating and love is like trying to get your boss to spring for that new HP color printer with the dual output and built-in scanner. Probably not going to happen, but for some reason, you still keep working on new approaches.  It’s a good exercise in creative thinking.

BOL has improved all of our skill sets.  Cami’s photoshop skills are amazing, she can even put someone’s face on Godzillas’s body. Jenny’s really perfected her use of bullet points and italics and Carrie has never been better at taking attendance and finding objects on tables to use as gavels.  Obviously,  these are all directly transferable into the work environment.

Do you think women in their twenties can have both a fabulous career and a successful love life? Based on your experience, are women placing too much emphasis on one and not the other?

Of course you can have both.  This is America.  What women need to do is quit whining and go after what they want.  Unless your last name is Hilton, don’t expect anything to be handed to you on a silver Tiffany platter.

Which would be more awkward – a job interview with Donald Trump or a dinner date with him?

Hmm…they’d both have their awkward moments, but a dinner date would probably be the worst. Donald would love the BOL, and then we’d have to go through the whole “it’s not you, it’s me” scenario. We just couldn’t do that to Donald…or his hair…or his wife.

Board of Love has a definite reality show title ring about it. Maybe something in the vein of Dragons’ Den where the three of you evaluate men on their pick-up techniques and relationship management skills? Has FOX called yet?

No, but we have an interview with a production company in LA on Thursday.  Obviously, FOX is just playing hard to get!