????大四注冊(cè)那天，紐約世貿(mào)中心遭到襲擊,。海曼說,，這起恐怖襲擊事件對(duì)她的職業(yè)軌跡產(chǎn)生了切切實(shí)實(shí)的影響。這位社會(huì)學(xué)專業(yè)學(xué)生毅然放棄了起初的論文計(jì)劃,，轉(zhuǎn)而撰寫了一篇以新聞網(wǎng)絡(luò)如何報(bào)道911事件為主題的學(xué)術(shù)論文——她先后采訪了新聞主播特德?科佩爾和約翰?斯托塞爾,。然而，她并沒有產(chǎn)生投身于媒體的念頭,，而是開始思考一些商業(yè)問題,。“911事件給這個(gè)國(guó)家的許多產(chǎn)業(yè)帶來了滅頂之災(zāi),，我一向認(rèn)為,，動(dòng)蕩中必然蘊(yùn)含著創(chuàng)新機(jī)遇，”她說,?！八晕蚁雽ふ易顒?dòng)蕩的行業(yè)，因?yàn)槲矣X得我將從中學(xué)到很多東西,。這個(gè)行業(yè)必將發(fā)生大變革,，大轉(zhuǎn)型?！?/p>

????于是,，海曼開始四處尋找有待解決的問題，最終把目光投向了旅游業(yè),，因?yàn)?11事件對(duì)這個(gè)行業(yè)造成的負(fù)面影響再明顯不過了,。沒過多久,，海曼就在喜達(dá)屋酒店集團(tuán)(Starwood Hotels)謀得了一份參與制定公司戰(zhàn)略的差事。在那里,，她與時(shí)任CEO,、曾參與創(chuàng)辦W酒店管理公司(W Hotels)的巴里?斯特恩利希特形成了非常默契的工作關(guān)系?！坝捎谒木壒?，這家公司當(dāng)時(shí)極富創(chuàng)業(yè)激情，”她說,?！八裕词顾且患掖蠊?，但各級(jí)員工都被視為創(chuàng)新源泉,，有機(jī)會(huì)將自身的創(chuàng)意付諸實(shí)現(xiàn)?！?/p>

????海曼在營(yíng)銷和合作項(xiàng)目的不同組別輪值了一年之后產(chǎn)生了一個(gè)想法：為喜達(dá)屋酒店集團(tuán)創(chuàng)建一個(gè)婚禮事業(yè)部,。她認(rèn)為，喜達(dá)屋優(yōu)先顧客獎(jiǎng)勵(lì)計(jì)劃( Preferred Guest)應(yīng)該針對(duì)最近訂婚的伉儷,，以及與婚禮相關(guān)的活動(dòng),，包括單身派對(duì)、婚慶,、蜜月,，不一而足。海曼主動(dòng)聯(lián)系所在部門總裁,，希望獲得200萬美元撥款,，同時(shí)授權(quán)她在喜達(dá)屋酒店集團(tuán)內(nèi)部啟動(dòng)這樣一個(gè)小型企業(yè)。她當(dāng)時(shí)22歲,，來這家公司還不到一年,。這番舉動(dòng)確屬大膽。但海曼說,，她當(dāng)時(shí)想：“也許有人覺得我這樣做過于激進(jìn),，但最糟糕的事情莫過于老板否決這項(xiàng)提議。要是那樣的話,，我一定要想法子說服他,。”她的提議最終獲得肯定,。這個(gè)事業(yè)部面向新訂婚夫婦的奢華蜜月服務(wù)大受歡迎,，第一個(gè)財(cái)年就斬獲1,300萬美元收入。時(shí)至今日,，它依然是喜達(dá)屋酒店集團(tuán)的重要一員,。

????按照海曼如今的描述,，在喜達(dá)屋工作期間，她經(jīng)歷過一個(gè)對(duì)其職業(yè)生涯產(chǎn)生重大影響的時(shí)刻,。有一回,，在一場(chǎng)有資深員工參加的重要會(huì)議上，海曼一如往常,，毫無保留地表達(dá)了自己的想法,。會(huì)后，一位任職時(shí)間更長(zhǎng)的女士把海曼拉到一邊,，說她開會(huì)時(shí)講得太多,，“讓人覺得鋒芒畢露,，愛出風(fēng)頭,，希望你意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)?！边@番話當(dāng)然是出于好意,，但海曼表示，這位女士也“想告訴我,，如果大家覺得你一個(gè)22歲的小女生竟然如此咄咄逼人,，一定會(huì)招致許多員工的不滿，尤其是那些男上司,。我基本上沒聽她的,。”

????離開喜達(dá)屋酒店后,，海曼還曾先后在初創(chuàng)公司婚禮頻道網(wǎng)(WeddingChannel.com)和運(yùn)動(dòng)與時(shí)尚經(jīng)紀(jì)公司國(guó)際管理集團(tuán)( IMG)短暫工作過一段時(shí)間,。2007年，她進(jìn)入哈佛商學(xué)院,。海曼的妹妹貝基認(rèn)識(shí)弗雷斯（一位朋友的朋友）,，覺得她們兩人肯定很合拍。海曼承認(rèn),，她最初的反應(yīng)非常冷淡：“我現(xiàn)在的朋友夠多了,，都應(yīng)付不過來了。有機(jī)會(huì)碰到的話,，認(rèn)識(shí)一下也行,。但我不會(huì)專門去結(jié)交她，”她對(duì)貝基說,。然而,，開學(xué)的第一天，她們兩人碰巧坐在同一個(gè)分區(qū),，很快就成了好朋友,。

????弗萊斯出生于肯塔基州,，從紐約霍勒斯曼學(xué)校(Horace Mann School)畢業(yè)后被耶魯大學(xué)(Yale University)錄取，專修政治學(xué)和英語(yǔ),。大學(xué)畢業(yè)后,，她進(jìn)入銀行業(yè)?！拔疑鷣砗脧?qiáng),，總喜歡追逐最好的東西，做最難辦的事情,，”她說,。“從耶魯出來后,，大家都想去高盛(Goldman Sachs)這樣的投行工作,。”大四前那個(gè)暑期,，她獲得了一個(gè)在高盛實(shí)習(xí)的機(jī)會(huì),。第二年春天畢業(yè)后，她進(jìn)入摩根士丹利公司(Morgan Stanley)戰(zhàn)略規(guī)劃部,，開始從事內(nèi)部并購(gòu)和咨詢業(yè)務(wù),。一年后，也就是2006年,，她跳槽至雷曼兄弟公司(Lehman Brothers)從事類似的工作,。

????On registration day of her senior year, the World Trade Center was attacked. Hyman says it had a real impact on her career trajectory. A social studies major, she completely scrapped her planned thesis and instead did one on how network-news outlets covered 9/11—she interviewed broadcasters like Ted Koppel and John Stossel. But instead of deciding she wanted to go into media herself, she began thinking about business. "What Sept. 11 had done is wreak havoc on many different industries in the country, and I always think that in chaos there's innovation," she says. "So I wanted to find the most chaotic industry out there, because I felt I would learn a huge amount. There would be a lot of change and transformation."

????Hyman was searching for a problem to solve. She looked toward the travel industry because 9/11 was having such an obvious impact on it, and landed in corporate strategy at Starwood Hotels. There she hit it off with then-CEO Barry Sternlicht, who had also started W Hotels. "The spirit of the company at the time was very entrepreneurial because of him," she says. "So even though it was a huge company, there was an expectation that people at all levels of the company would have ideas and bring those ideas to fruition."

????One idea Hyman had, after a year of rotating through various groups in marketing and partnerships, was for Starwood to create a wedding division. She felt the company's Preferred Guest rewards program should aim for recently engaged couples and their wedding-related events, from the bachelor and bachelorette parties to the wedding to the honeymoon. Hyman approached the president of her division and asked for $2 million to start a mini-business within Starwood. She was 22 years old and had been at the company for barely a year. It was an audacious move. But Hyman says she was thinking, " Someone thinks I'm being too aggressive? The worst thing that could happen is he says no. And then I'll figure out how to make it into a yes." She did get a yes, and the division she came up with -- a honeymoon registry combined with luxury services for newly engaged guests -- thrived, generating $13 million in its first year. It is still in place at Starwood (HOT) today.

????While at Starwood, Hyman had what she now describes as a pivotal moment in her career. After an important meeting with some senior people -- during which Hyman, as she often would, spoke up and contributed ideas -- a woman who had been with the company longer than Hyman took her aside. She told her that when Hyman speaks out in meetings too much, "it comes off as being too aggressive and too pushy. And just be aware of that." The woman was trying to be helpful. But she was also, Hyman says, "trying to tell me that if you're perceived as being this hard-charging 22-year-old girl, that's going to be very off-putting to a lot of people in this company, especially people above you who are men. I kind of ignored her."

????After Hyman worked briefly for the startup WeddingChannel.com and the sports and fashion agency IMG, she entered Harvard Business School in 2007. Hyman's sister Becky knew Fleiss as a friend of a friend, and thought the two would hit it off. Hyman admits her first reaction was icy: "I already have more friends than I need right now. If I meet her, I meet her. But I'm not going to specifically look out for her," she told Becky. Yet on the first day the two of them happened to land in the same section and they became instant friends.

????Fleiss had grown up in Kentucky and New York, where she went to the Horace Mann School, then college at Yale, where she focused on political science and English. After graduation, she went into banking. "I have a pretty competitive personality in general, and I'm always trying to go after what is the best and the hardest thing to get and to do," she says. "And coming out of Yale, everyone wanted to work in investment banking, like at Goldman Sachs." The summer before her senior year, she got a Goldman internship, and the next spring, after graduating, she went to work at Morgan Stanley (MS) in the strategic-planning group doing internal M&A and consulting. After a year she moved on to a similar role at Lehman Brothers in 2006.