I gestured at the screen behind me with my red power hammer, while I clicked the remote in my other hand. A hillside with endless rows of grapevines appeared. “A weekend at nine-time Oscar winner Francis Copland’s vineyard in Napa Valley, a guided tour of the wine cellars by our generous donor, and two cases of wines of your choice to take home.”

The audience clapped.

“The perfect date, the perfect surprise present, the perfect getaway. Because you’re the type of person who wants to put a smile on the face of the one you love.” I gave them something they could visualize. “After the past couple of years, you deserve a break.” In case anyone needed justification.

I paused to create suspense, then said, “The bid starts at ten thousand dollars.”

Two dozen hands shot into the air.

“Do I hear eleven? Imagine strolling through the vineyard at sunset, holding hands. You work hard. Success requires many personal sacrifices. So how about the perfect weekend to reconnect, to show that you care, to fall in love all over again.” Always tell a story. Stories sell.

The hands were back, even higher.

In the end, the weekend went to a Silicon Valley venture capitalist at the solid bang of my red hammer. “Sold to the gentleman in the spectacular green bow tie for nineteen thousand dollars.”

His wife kissed him on the cheek and shot me a look of pure gratitude. In her sixties, she resembled Audrey Hepburn at that age, showing off a shimmering silver gown fit for a Hollywood icon.

Here was another reason for my simple black outfits. I wanted my clients to be the stars. I wanted them to feel like they were in the limelight, that the women were the princesses of the ball.

I clicked my remote, and a life-size painting appeared on the screen behind me. At the same time, two white-gloved assistants brought the original on stage and placed it on the waiting easel.

“Lydia Lawrence, three-time Oscar winner. Self-portrait.” Lawrence wore a navy-blue suit with a red shirt and stood on the roof of a high rise in a power pose as if about to take flight. “The first actress to have successfully fought to be paid the same as her male costar in a major action production. The founder of StarRise.” A small studio that focused on underrepresented stories. “And a talented artist.” Her works were just becoming collectible.

A gratifying number of hands went up.

The painting found a home with Meredith Meyer, the studio head who’d been Lawrence’s mentor back in the day. “To the lady in the best tiara I’ve ever seen, for fifty thousand dollars.”

Tiaras and elaborate ball gowns were Meyer’s trademark look. She was a queen, and she didn’t mind if everybody knew it.

I moved on to a custom-designed day at Universal Studios. The next expected megahit. An all-star cast.