Audrey Glickman has had a few careers. Most of them involved laboring to make someone else look good and succeed.

In other words, it's my chance to brag - in the first person.

In the mid-1990s, I joined the JCC Theatre Committee, as a producing member. I did this because they needed someone to produce Minnie's Boys, and I jumped right in. I've been a fan of the Marx Brothers since high school, so I was eager to make this production happen. My job was to talk actors and musicians into working for no pay, and designers and technical folks into working for very little on a contract basis. I was responsible for making certain the production came to fruition on time, and that potential audiences knew about it and were eager to attend. I ran the box office, too. My pay was zero, but that didn't matter because I did this while I was working full-time-plus as a legal secretary, and raising a six-year-old son.

We were close to 100% sold out over two weekends, and more or less came in at budget.

While serving at Gargaro Productions, Inc. (now Pittsburgh Musical Theater), I loved most aspects of my job - from taking care of payroll, taxes, and benefits, to driving trucks and loading scenery. The task I am most proud of is handling the minutia of the negotiations to create a special contract with Actors' Equity for touring The Goodbye Girl. Working with another producing organization in the midwest and with the Equity local in New York (which covers Pittsburgh), we came up with a contract that was satisfactory to all, including our star, Eddie Mekka.

After five years as a Legal Secretary in Corporate Law, I was offered a promotion to start a Training Center for the firm. In that position, I managed indoctrination of new employees to the firm's systems and practices, and all training of existing employees in new systems, while also co-managing the firm's floating secretaries and covering for absent secretaries and overflow work. Along with Phyllis Wirth, I had already worked to develop a Boss Training program, which we continued as a part of the official training, to help new attorneys understand how to manage clerical staff. Graduates of our programs have since thanked me for knowledge we imparted.

After a year and a half of that work, I placed myself back as a Legal Secretary for another nine years.

In 2007, I put myself through the rigors of a fellowship with the Center for Progressive Leadership Pennsylvania. It was well worth the effort. In addition to the functional education we all gained, we created a statewide affiliation - a true fellowship - that has endured and will continue to prove beneficial both to us and to the better future of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

As a staffer to a City Council member, it was exciting to develop and work on new initiatives such as asphalt recycling, noise legislation, financial legislation, zoning legislation, senses of Council, and neighborhood issues. Even writing proclamations is exciting.

I am very proud of my small part acting as communications central to a team of (mostly female) high-powered professionals for Councilman Doug Shields, to develop legislation for the City of Pittsburgh concerning City police and domestic violence. We created a post-agenda meeting with over four hours of information to back the legislation, garnering the support of Councilpersons who had initially been reluctant. Councilman Bill Peduto dubbed us "The Women Who Won't Go Away."

Since 2016 I have had the privilege of serving as a rabbi's assistant. I note that when I worked as a legal secretary I took phone calls and composed correspondence and documents for the lawyers with whom I worked, answered clients' questions about the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. When I worked in City Council as chief of staff to the council president, I took phone calls and composed correspondence and legislation for the councilwoman and answered constituents' questions about the City Code. Now that I work as a rabbi's assistant, I take phone calls and compose correspondence and various certificates and documentation and answer congregants' questions, many times concerning the Law. It is the same job, just a different set of laws.

While serving as acting Managing Director of the Mary Miller Dance Company, I sometimes took photos of the dancers during dress rehearsals for publicity. My absolute favorite such photo is this one, of Leon Mawengo, a dancer with Jambo, who collaborated with MMDC on several dances. This is from the dance "Lisano."

I also had the opportunity to do some PR work for the Mary Miller Dance Company. Examples of mailer PDFs are linked below.

Some parts of work are pure pleasure.