If D'Andra Galarza were to come face to face with death, she knows whose life would flash before her eyes: the life of her boss, a president at NBCUniversal Inc.
即便是走到了生命的尽头，蒂安德拉?加拉尔萨(D'Andra Galarza)也知道她在弥留之际肯定忘不了她的上司：NBC环球(NBCUniversal Inc.)的一位总裁。
After 10 years as Edward Swindler's executive assistant, waking up at 4 a.m. to ensure he makes an early morning flight and keeping the office stocked with his favorite snacks -- oyster crackers, peppermint Life Savers and Honey Nut Cheerios -- Ms. Galarza says she's under no illusions about whose needs come first.
加拉尔萨在爱德华?斯温德勒(Edward Swindler)手下当了十年的行政助理，她常常早上4点起床以确保老板能赶上早班的飞机，并在办公桌里塞满他爱吃的零食——牡蛎苏打饼、薄荷味的Life Savers硬糖、还有蜂蜜燕麦圈——加拉尔萨说，她极其明确上司的需求应置于首位。
'You work very, very hard . . . so that they can shine and they can do their best, ' she says. 'You're kind of the stage mom.'
她说：你就像是童星们的那些经纪人老妈一样，非常卖命地干活来保证你的上司能顺利工作，表现出色。
The schedulers, gatekeepers and caretakers of the corporate world are rarely seen, but they have a profound effect on the daily lives of the executives they serve. They do everything from booking business trips, ordering anniversary gifts and arranging pet care to attending high-level meetings and deciding who can and can't meet with their boss. The work can be thankless and often comes at a cost to their own personal lives, but these workers wield subtle influence at a company's highest levels -- and no small amount of power.
尽管这些在大公司里专门负责制定日程、看管事务和照顾起居的员工很少出现在台前，但是他们的存在对公司高管们的生活却有着深远的意义。从订购商务机票、购买周年纪念礼物、照顾宠物，到参与高层会议以及决定谁能/不能会见他们的上司，这些人事无巨细无不负责。这种活往往吃力不讨好，还常以牺牲业余生活为代价，但这些人对公司的最高层发挥着微妙而不可小觑的作用。
The career path can be uncertain, however, and assistants' fortunes often hinge on their boss's trajectory. If the boss is fired, the assistant can end up in limbo or working for a less senior professional. Yet as automation claims many administrative jobs, the assistants are prized for their business savvy and treated as the boss's not-quite-equal partner.
但这些助理们的职业道路并不明晰，而且他们的未来与上司的未来通常联系在一起。如果上司被开除，助理要么一同走人，要么转而为一个更低层的职员工作。然而，尽管办公自动化包揽下许多的行政工作，助理们仍凭藉他们出色的业务能力而存在于职场中，并被上司视为非平起平坐的事业伙伴来对待。
Now, a new networking group aims to emphasize the 'executive' in executive assistant, pampering and pumping up these right-hand workers with nightclub parties, spa sessions and Behind Every Leader, a conference series that is coming next month to Newark, N.J. Among the scheduled sessions: 'Yoga & Meditation for the Executive Assistant' and a boss's recounting of how his EA saved the company after Hurricane Sandy.
现在一个新的社交团体正力图为行政助理博得更多的重视，该组织带领这些上司的得力助手们举办夜店派对，一起做SPA疗养，并举行“每个领导的背后”(Behind Every Leader)的系列会议（下个月将在新泽西州纽瓦克举行）。会议内容包括组织行政助理们一起练习瑜伽做冥想，以及请一位老板讲述他的助理在飓风桑迪(Sandy)席卷之后拯救公司于危难的故事。
Victoria Rabin, the 28-year-old founder of the Executive Assistants Organization and a former assistant at a London hedge fund, says the job deserves some cachet because assisting is an 'incredible career' that only a 'certain breed' can do.
28岁的维多利亚?雷宾(Victoria Rabin)是行政助理组织(Executive Assistants Organization, 简称EAO)的创始人，她也曾在伦敦的一家对冲基金公司担任助理，她说干那份活应该得到特别的褒奖，因为助理是一份常人无法胜任的工作，其艰苦难以想像。
Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based networking group has some 1, 000 members, the majority of whom pay $500 to $1, 500 a year in dues to gain access to events and online webinars, and, for the highest-paying, a personal mentor.
该团体于2012年在旧金山成立，团体内约1,000名成员中，大多数每年会支付500美元到1500美元来参与活动和在线研讨会，以及聘请一位个人导师，导师费用最高。
Assistants need to bond with one another, Ms. Rabin says, because few others can understand the demands of the job, from tracking down car services in a far-flung city to dealing with a boss's infidelity. Groups such as the 71-year-old International Association of Administrative Professionals have long offered assistants educational and networking opportunities, but several executive assistants say the EAO, whose current members are all female, feels 'sexier' and fresher.
雷宾认为，行政助理之间应当多交流下感情，因为少有他人能体会到这份工作的艰辛：一会儿要在一个千里之外的城市租到车，一会儿又要想办法帮老板处理婚外情。类似已有71年的国际行政专业协会(International Association of Administrative Professionals)这样的组织，长期以来一直帮助行政助理寻求教育和交流机会，但一些行政助理更偏爱行政助理组织的氛围，觉得这个目前全部由女性组成的团体更新鲜，更“令人兴奋”。
Anikka Fragodt is considered a celebrity in the realm of executive assistants. Until last March, she was Mark Zuckerberg's right-hand woman. For more than seven years, she planned everything from a toga party for 350 people with 48 hours' notice to Mr. Zuckerberg's secret wedding to Priscilla Chan in 2012. (Only four people knew about it in advance, she says, and the fourth was Ms. Chan's assistant.)
安尼卡?弗拉戈特(Anikka Fragodt)被视作行政助理界的明星。直到今年3月份，她还是马克?扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)的得力女助手。无论是在48小时内准备好350人的古罗马长袍派对，还是扎克伯格与普莉希拉?陈(Priscilla Chan)在2012年举行的秘密婚礼，七年多来，一切都由她来安排。（她说，只有四个人预先知道了这场婚礼，而第四个人是陈的助理。）
Ms. Fragodt describes herself as Mr. Zuckerberg's partner in business as well, helping him prepare for meetings and debriefing other staff members to ensure they understood his wishes. She also adopted her boss's signature hooded sweatshirts and says she could anticipate his needs at a glance.
弗拉戈特也将自己视作扎克伯格的生意伙伴，例如辅佐他为会议做好准备工作，并听取其他职员的汇报以确保他们正确理解扎克伯格的意思。她还有一件她老板签名图案的帽衫，并称自己对他的需要了如指掌。
'It's not like the old days of 'Mad Men, ' where the secretary wears the cute skirt, makes the coffee and does what she's supposed to do, ' says Ms. Fragodt. 'She goes to the meetings and represents the executive, and the partnership is stronger.'
弗拉戈特说，我的工作并不像电视剧《广告狂人》(Mad Men)里的秘书那样，穿着好看的裙子煮咖啡，只做秘书份内的活儿。我会代表高层出席会议，并且我们有着更强的伙伴关系。
Adds Mr. Zuckerberg in an email: 'Anikka joined Facebook early on, when we had less than 100 employees, and were basically working out what kind of company we wanted to be. Anikka helped me become a better CEO.'
扎克伯格还在一封邮件中补充道：安尼卡在Facebook还不到100名员工的时候就进入了公司，并一直辅佐Facebook朝着正确的方向运行。她让我的CEO工作做得更好。
By her final year at Facebook, Ms. Fragodt, 44 years old, was being paid $135, 000 plus a 30% bonus, as well as stock awards that left her 'taken good care of.' She has spent the past few months volunteering, working part-time and thinking about her next career move.
如今44岁的弗拉戈特在Facebook的最后一年收入135,000美元加30%的奖金，并得到了一份足以让她“继续过好日子”的股票奖励。在过去的几个月里，她一直忙于志愿者和兼职工作，并思考下一步的职业走向。
Ms. Fragodt, who will speak at the Behind Every Leader conference in Newark, advises today's executive assistants to be visible, no matter how strange it feels.
弗拉戈特将在纽瓦克的“每个领导的背后”会议中发表讲话，她建议如今的行政助理们丢掉顾虑，努力让自己得到重视。
Melba Duncan, president of the Duncan Group, a search and training firm, recruits high-level executive assistants for salaries ranging from $75, 000 to $175, 000. Bosses want assistants who are knowledgeable about global affairs and economic trends and can help guide big decisions, she says. That means many candidates have graduate degrees, such as an M.B.A. or law degree.
从事猎头及培训的邓肯集团(Duncan Group)总裁梅尔巴?邓肯(Melba Duncan)对高级行政助理的开价在75,000美元到175,000美元之间。她说，上司们希望手下的助理熟悉全球事件和经济形势，能够帮助制定重大决策。这就需要竞职人选具有类似MBA或法学的研究生学历。
The best executive assistants immerse themselves in the businesses they work for, adds Ms. Duncan, who worked as an executive assistant for Peter Peterson at Lehman Brothers for 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s. If Mr. Peterson arrived in the morning with a book, she would purchase a copy by that evening, she says. 'Not that I would discuss it with him.'
邓肯补充道，出色的行政助理应当倾注于所从事的业务，她本人曾在上世纪70、80年代之间为雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers, Inc.)的彼得?彼得森(Peter Peterson)担任了10年的助理。如果彼得森早上拿着本书走进办公室，当天晚上她就会给自己也买一本，她说，这倒不是为了跟他讨论这本书的内容。
Meanwhile, the executives who share everything from email accounts to bank-account data to home-security codes with their assistants say the partnership works best when there's trust and constant communication.
而在那些把电邮、银行帐户甚至自家安保密码都告诉助理的高管们看来，只有相互的信任和不断的沟通，这种伙伴关系才能高效运转。
Harry Kraemer, a former CEO of Baxter International Inc. and now a professor at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, says his assistant of 12 years kept him informed about what was happening at the healthcare company and encouraged him to communicate more with employees, pushing him to write all-company emails, share stories about his personal life and dress up as Santa around the holidays.
百特(Baxter International Inc.)前CEO哈里?克雷默(Harry Kraemer)如今是西北大学凯洛格管理学院(Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management)的教授。他说，他的助理12年来一直会把公司里发生的事情告诉他，鼓励他多与员工进行交流，于是，克雷默开始给全公司发邮件，跟员工分享自己的生活故事，并在圣诞节穿上圣诞老人的衣服参加大家的聚会。
John Manuck, the chief executive of Techmer PM LLC, a manufacturing concern, says he leans on his assistant, Nicole Brannick, to tell him who he needs to speak with urgently and who can wait. Ms. Brannick is among the first to know when the company makes an acquisition, and she kept Mr. Manuck's cats company when he had to travel for work.
约翰?马纳克(John Manuck)是美国Techmer PM制造公司的首席执行长，他说，在应当与谁尽快会面，而谁可推后这个问题上，他全然依赖助理妮科尔?布兰尼克(Nicole Brannick)来做决定。布兰尼克即会第一时间了解到类似收购这样的重要信息，也会在马纳克出差时帮他做照顾猫一类的家事。
Assistants gain status from their boss's high profile. NBC's Ms. Galarza says another executive once tried to wheedle information from her about a private meeting her boss was attending. 'People know I know everything, ' she says.
助理会因老板高高在上的地位而得到不少的尊重。NBC的加拉尔萨说，曾经有个高管想向她打听她上司参加的一个秘密会议，她说：大家都知道我无所不知。
'It's sort of like EA code, ' she adds. 'Everybody treats me with kid gloves. If I was working for a VP, it would not be that way.'
她补充道，这就好像助理行业的一个潜规则，大家都因为我的老板而额外地敬重我。而如果我的上司只是一个副总裁，就不会是这样了。