March, 2013 To whom it may concern, greetings: It is traditional in letters of recommendation to strike a positive tone from the outset,

but it may save us some time to take a slightly dierent approach here. Let me just skip the usual blandishments and get right to the matter that concerns you. Based on my long acquaintance with the subject of this recommendation, and a professional relationship of equal duration, I can advise you unequivocally: do not hire Laura Cardwell. Unless. Unless you happen to be in the market for someone with exceptional administrative capabilities, a talent for problem solving and a penchant for hard work. If thats the case, disregard my previous admonition. Laura and I served together in the trenches of automotive merchandising, a grueling vocation which explains why the Mad Men went mad in the rst place. This particular branch of advertising requires extraordinary attention to detail and is unforgiving of missed deadlines. During the time we collaborated, Laura was in the employ of one of the largest such agencies in this region, as a producer. She not only interacted with clientele, supervised casting, maintained script oversight and wrangled each production for both audio and video, but did so awlessly, time after time, despite a workload that might have given a dray horse pause. Obviously you dont need car commercials, but you probably do need someone who can put that same combination of focus, passion and commitment into your enterprise. Not to bury the lede, but thatd be Laura. By the way, Laura has one other quality that might prove invaluable. Lou Grant called it spunk. If, unlike Lou, you dont hate spunk, do hire Laura Cardwell. Yours,

Courtney Haden Boutwell Recording Studios 2917 Central Avenue Birmingham AL 35209