Working on “Why”: #inmyMM with Bain Consultant Jessica Basham

June 10, 2016

Each week, we look inside the fascinating lives (and closets) of our favorite customers. Here, Jessica Basham, a management consultant at Bain & Company in New York, talks about dressing up for the office, nightly journal entries, and her romantic walk to work.

I WORK for Bain & Company, a management consulting firm. My job changes day to day, depending on what case I’m assigned to, but my team remains the same. I change cases about twice per year, and I’ve been lucky enough to have all my cases based in New York, so I don’t have to travel—hopefully I’m not jinxing myself. A lot of my co-workers are quirky, which I love.

I STARTED OUT as a finance and accounting major in the McIntire School at UVA for undergrad. When I graduated back in 2008, before the recession, everyone still wanted to go into banking, so I went into derivatives trading at Wachovia, based in Charlotte. I liked the energy of being on the trading floor, but my husband—then my boyfriend—was in Atlanta, so I moved there to be with him and got a job at Wells Fargo’s commercial bank for a few years. I enjoyed the client services aspect, and I thought the underwriting process was fascinating, but I’d say to clients, “Oh, margins are compressing,” or, “Profitability is down,” and explain a little bit about why—but I didn’t get to be involved in the “why” part, or how problems were going to be fixed. I always wanted to go to business school, so I got my MBA at Columbia. While I was there, I did a summer internship at Bain, and then joined full time after I graduated.

MY FIRST JOB EVER was at a boutique resort in my hometown, in the middle of nowhere in southern Virginia. It was basically a lot of data entry and mass mailing to advertise the resort. I was 14, which is legal working age in Virginia.

I LIVE near Columbus Circle in New York. We’ve been in the same building for about four or five years now. It’s a good central location, and my husband and I walk to work together every morning. It’s a little over a mile to our respective offices near Bryant Park.

Jessica wears the Susan in Sahara.

MY STYLE is pretty traditional. I don’t stay on top of the current trends. I like things that are classic, and most of my clothes are things I’ve had for a long time. I probably dress more formally than I need to, but I like to wear dresses or skirts for the office. Dressing up a little bit makes me feel more confident.

MY GO-TO MM PIECE is the Etsuko. It’s such a forgiving cut. I also love the Sarah—the square sleeves are really sharp.

MY CLOSET is half mine, half my husband’s. I keep my work clothes in our bedroom, with his suits, and then we have another closet in the hallway where I keep my “fun” clothes—like, party clothes. Well, I don’t really have party clothes, but they’re the clothes I don’t wear to work. I’m not sure exactly why we split it up that way, but it works.

I AM CONSCIOUS OF clothes that are clingy in the midsection—they don’t make me feel comfortable.

WHEN I WAS LITTLE, I wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with my poor brother, with a chalkboard and made-up spelling tests. My friends still talk about how much they hated it. But I just loved school. In reality, I’d be a terrible teacher—I have no patience.

I DON’T KNOW how to swim very well. I won’t drown, but it’s mostly doggy paddle.

I TREAT MYSELF to a good bottle of wine when I want to celebrate. Either that or going out to a nice dinner. We really love Dell’anima in the West Village, and Red Farm‘s Upper West Side location, because we can always get a seat at the bar.