How She Does It

Carolyn Kepcher is known around America for her effective, no-nonsense

She drives up to the Trump National Golf Course in Bedminster, NJ, in a little white BMW that's remarkably crumb-free. "The kids use the minivan at home," she says with a smile. Then Carolyn hops into a golf cart and heads to a colonial-style house that serves as the club management's office. Meeting this Working Mother reader, you're immediately reassured by her fresh-faced, girl-next-door charm. But at work, Carolyn is "a killer," to quote her billionaire boss. "That means I create aggressive multimillion-dollar sales and operating budgets," she explains, "and I meet them, no matter what it takes."

Carolyn, who's compiled her business wisdom in the best-selling book Carolyn 101, just released in paperback, has a history of sales talent. At 12, she peddled Avon products, but skipped the door-to-door route and went office to office at city hall in New Rochelle, NY, where her father, Raymond Cassidy, was a building inspector. At 13, she got a job at the snack bar of a local country club. By 15, she was the snack bar manager. She waitressed her way through Mercy College in Dobbs Ferry, NY, where she was on a volleyball scholarship. "Waitressing wasn't just a job," Carolyn says. "I really studied how things worked-in banqueting, in catering, in the front of house and back."

She graduated in 1991 with a degree in business, determined to enter the hospitality industry because, she says, "I'm not the desk-job type." Hired as an assistant manager at the Zephyr Grill in New York City's Beekman Tower Hotel, she worked her way up to manager within a year and by 1994 was looking for bigger fish to fry. She answered an ad for a sales and marketing director at a run-down golf club in Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, NY. In a pitch worthy of any contestant on The Apprentice, she argued that waitressing was a great training ground for a career in sales. "Every time a waitress takes an order, she closes a deal," explained Carolyn. She got the job, even though she says she couldn't tell "tee time" from "tea time."

Six months later, Donald Trump came calling. An avid golfer who already owned a course in Palm Beach, FL, he wanted to establish a golf brand-with his name on it. After a series of meetings at Briarcliff Manor, he was impressed by the numbers Carolyn presented-and by Carolyn herself. "I liked her direct manner," recalls Trump. "She was very clear without being aggressive. My instincts told me she had a particularly keen insight into business and people, which is a great combination for an executive." Trump acquired the course-and hired Carolyn as manager. She was all of 25 years old at the time.

Her assignment: to woo members, solicit world-class events, supervise the building and sale of $16 million villas, oversee the construction of a premier course and clubhouse-and deal with a boss whom she describes as "demanding in every way." Five years into the job, she nearly fell victim to her legendary killer instincts. "I was driving myself too hard and mentally bringing home a lot of work," she says. Her husband, George Kepcher, a project manager for a builder in Bedford, NY, told her, "You're making yourself crazy. You should leave this job." Before she got the chance, she got pregnant.

When her son, Connor, was born in June 2000, Carolyn found the fortitude to do what she'd been wanting to: draw a firm line between work and family. "Kids help you remember what matters," she says. "When you have this wonderful little boy, you don't want to think about sales figures. You want to be home." And so she became a master delegator, something that she admits is hard for her and a lot of other managers "because if you want to get something done right, it's easiest to do it yourself." She learned to leave work at a reasonable hour and trust that her staff would pull through. "I like to hire people who tell me, 'I can take on more,' " says Carolyn. "After I became a mother, I upped the definition of more."

After daughter Cassidy was born in August 2002, she took the briefest of maternity leaves-three weeks-and she returned to a new job. "Donald called and asked for a few details about a property in Bedminster," she recalls. "I took notes and said I'd get back to him. Then I hung up and wondered, 'Did we just buy a golf course in Bedminster?' " Not only was the answer yes, but it also turned out that the task of making the course Trump-worthy-and continuing to oversee the Briarcliff Manor club-was part of her new job description.

Never mind that the Bedminster club was nearly two hours from her home in Ridgefield, CT. Carolyn knew she could step up to the challenge because of a dream child-care team: her husband, whose job has flexible hours, and her sister Linda Bond, a psychologist, whose kids, Allison and Christopher, are almost the same ages as Carolyn's. Linda picks up both sets of cousins from preschool at 1:00 p.m. and holds down the fort until George gets home, around 3:00 p.m. When reinforcements are needed, a teenager next door steps in. Unless Carolyn's called out of town-Trump opened a new course in Los Angeles in September-she usually makes it home for dinner. "I try to cook with the kids," she says. "We make pasta, which is all Cassidy will eat right now, or soup or stew. The kids set the table, we don't microwave, and there's never TV on while we're eating."

Connor and Cassidy, who watch cartoons, the Discovery Channel and, of course, The Apprentice, don't think it's a big deal that their mommy's on TV. "They're young enough that they think, Aren't all mommies on TV?" Carolyn says with a laugh. When the show first aired, Connor went around telling people, "My mommy works in a boardroom and fires people." Carolyn decided to clarify matters by taking him to the golf course and then to the boardroom set so he could see the hidden cameras and push buttons in the control room. Cassidy is still too young to understand what's going on, but when she sees the man she calls "Mr. t-RU-mp," she points her little finger and says, "You fired!" "Donald loves it," reports Carolyn, who, along with George H. Ross, executive vice president and senior counsel of The Trump Organization, is the eyes and ears of her famous boss, watching every move The Apprentice wannabes make.

Now that The Apprentice is in its fourth successful season, Carolyn is recognized by more and more people-on her way to the elevator in Trump Tower, in the aisles of Stop & Shop, where she goes on Sundays after church, and in airport lounges. "They don't understand why I'm not flying on the Trump plane," she says, laughing. "It's like Air Force One. There's only one plane, and he uses it."

The big question everyone wants to know the answer to: Is she really as tough in person as she is on TV? At home, she admits, "I'm a big softy. My kids get away with things I'd never tolerate from my employees." Which means that if Connor and Cassidy say, "Mommy, Mommy, we don't want to go to bed," she'll let them stay up-for all of 15 minutes. "I'm a working morn. When I see those cute little faces, I can't resist spoiling them just a little!"

But when it comes to business, Carolyn says she's all business. "My friends will tell their friends that I'm really nice. But I say, 'You've never worked with me.' In my view, The Apprentice is a fair assessment of me in the boardroom." And as a mom, she's glad to have that side of her life documented. "Today we have camcorders so moms can watch their kids at day care," she says. "I'm extra-lucky because my kids get to see what my life is like when I'm away from them."