Hi, welcome to the nanny podcast, I am so happy you are listening 🙂
I want to talk about something that might make some of you nod in agreement, some of you irritated and some of you not know about. The celebrity nanny, or rather the person who has been a nanny to a celebrity family.
There are so many famous people in the world, and many of them have kids and I would guess that the vast majority of them have nannies. It’s actors, singers, artists, athletes, politicians, royals, people that are famous because they are famous and so on. So many nannies have worked for someone famous as some point and are not affected by it at all, and don’t feel the need to brag about it, after all, they are just people and it is just another job, perhaps demanding in an unusual way, but still, it is taking care of and educating children whether they have famous parents or not. In my experience these families value discretion and professionalism even more than us mere mortals and would rather hire a nanny who is less star struck and more focused on the job.
When it happens it makes me giggle, we sometimes get nannies who have worked for celebrities and come to us with the attitude that their former employer’s fame and success is somehow theirs and expect some kind of special treatment. Let me say one thing straight, we treat everyone equally. Whether you are a client who is a celebrity or royalty, or a middle class family, we treat you the same. Whether you are a nanny with thirty years experience or a junior nanny just starting out, we treat you the same. Let me elaborate. The same service, has the same price and the same time requirement whether you are famous or a normal family. The requirements for you as a nanny to register with us are the same whether you are just starting out or have been working for many years for very famous people. If you are rude to us, we will not work with you, I don’t care how famous your former boss is. If you have lots of experience, an impressive CV and a professional and great personality, we will be very happy to help you find work. If you have an impressive CV with celebrity names on it and a crappy attitude, we will be much less excited to work with you. If you have nothing to show on your CV but are willing to listen and build it, we are happy to work with you. If you have no nanny experience and just want to come and work in Monaco, we don’t really think nannying is for you and we do not want to work with you.
I understand, it’s easy to get star struck. When I was in university I lived in cities where lots of famous people live, and would see famous people all the time in the grocery store, and honestly, I almost peed in my pants every time I saw Vincent Gallo, who was very cool at the time, or Ethan Hawke who lived around the corner from my school. It’s exciting, I get it. But don’t be a jerk, their fame is theirs, and in the end they are just people and because you know details about their personal lives because you have taken care of their kids does not mean that you are entitled to different treatment than others (I’m not even sure what kind of treatment is desired, maybe it is just a level of awe these nannies are after) and it definitely doesn’t mean that you should use that information to try to impress us or your next family. You are awesome, you have experience and merit, you don’t need to leverage your former boss’ fame to impress, you are impressive as you are.
Your CV will get you the interview, your personality will get you the job. That is just how it is.
Thank you for listening and spending time with me, see you next time 🙂
The Nanny Podcast 