Speak softly (and carry good lipstick)

[jerrygrikk]

Jackie made a concerted effort to temper her conversational voice sometime during college. She willed herself to speak sotto voce — typically drawing out the S in words like “yessssssss.” Gentlemen callers found the trait seductive; it also afforded her the kind of attention a conspiratorial whisper can conjure. Even as a young man, admirer Thomas Guinzburg (a college-age friend of Jackie's and later her boss at Viking) “found that pretty attractive.” Since this breathy technique compels a man to lean closer to hear you (thus bringing your mouth into greater focus), be sure to have your lips primed with a flattering — and preferably unflavored — color.