Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Laura Owens. And I'm Jan Black. We're very excited to welcome

Jacqueline Whitmore to our show today. She is one of the foremost authorities on

business etiquette in the world today. And she's the author of Poised for Success, Mastering the

Qualities that Distinguish Outstanding Professionals. And she's also the author of Business Class

Etiquette Essentials for Success at Work. Jacqueline, welcome to the show.

Well, I'm happy to be here with you.

Talk to us a little bit about how and why you became interested in etiquette.

It's an interesting career path, I have to say, and I didn't start out in my life thinking

I would ever become an etiquette expert. I don't think

anybody ever thinks they'll become an etiquette expert. I actually went to school to become a

broadcast journalist, but I happened to fall into the hospitality industry and I worked for

hotels for many years. Well, fast forward to

the last hotel I worked for, which was the breakers in Palm Beach. And the breakers was famous

for their etiquette camp for kids. And I was the assistant director of public relations. And it was my

responsibility to promote this camp

and to find the instructor. And I did find a fabulous instructor in Washington, D.C., and I asked her to

come and teach the kids, and she did, and she said, why don't we expand this camp and open it up for adults?

Why don't we have an etiquette camp for adults?

And of course, I said, that's a great idea.

I'll help you promote it.

And I took the class.

I felt like I could use these skills in my everyday life.

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