Margaret Getchell, retail’s first female executive, was a pioneer of the nineteenth century and a complex character at that. As a sassy, successful career woman enjoying the single life in 1860s New York, she was far ahead of her time.

Bubbling under the surface, though, she battled an intense anxiety that she hid from everyone. Back then, it wasn’t proper for a lady to share feelings of overwhelm, lest they be the next patient admitted to the notorious mental institution on Blackwell’s Island.

After starting as a cash girl at Macy’s and being promoted by Rowland H. Macy to superintendent of the store four short years later, Margaret faced many pressures that women in the workforce do today—being in charge while questioning her decisions, having men take credit for her work, balancing work with raising children, struggling to earn fair wages and feeling lonely at the top.

The only person who might make her feel a little less alone was a charming lace buyer for Macy’s named Abiel LaForge.

Building off of diaries belonging to Margaret and Abiel, I am constructing a novel based on a truly remarkable story of a woman with grit whose legacy deserves to be remembered.

“Be everywhere, do everything, and never forget to astonish the customer.”

— Margaret Getchell