Sydney Barrows

Sydney, perhaps better known to millions as the “Mayflower Madam,” found herself moonlighting as a phone girl at an escort service after having been fired for refusing to participate in a kickback scheme. Less than a year later, she opened her own agency. Relatively small but very upscale, Cachet prospered for five and a half years until New York’s Finest closed it down, only to later publicly concede that it was the most honest and professionally run business of its kind ever operated in New York City. Her first book, Mayflower Madam, went right to the top of the New York Times bestseller list, and her fourth will be published in January 2009. She is now in the information marketing business.