ʙʀᴇᴛᴛ sʟᴏᴀɴᴇ.

Her parents never imagined that she would choose to be everything that they were not. To live away from the life that she grew up in, to never commit to another person like she had committed to herself, and to turn into a total work-a-holic, even if her work kept her in nightclubs until all hours of the morning. Even as a spitting image of both of her parents, her personality was only minimally like them – and that is the way she liked it.

Brett Noel Sloane, born September 15th, 1990, to parents Sylvia and Simon Sloane lived in Southern California for her entire life. Her parents were beach bunnies, spending their lives in the waters of the Pacific Ocean and the sand of Santa Barbara beaches. Until she was born, they knew nothing other than surfing, swimming and tanning. Unfortunately, a child meant that the lifelong children had to grow up – at least a little bit. Sylvia, better known as “Vi,” got a job waiting tables at a beach side cafe while Simon, “Si,” took on the task of teaching tourists how to surf while working in a surf shop at the same time. Though Brett was the light of their life and beautiful, well-behaved child, Vi and Si could not leave their love of the water behind. Brett was raised mostly in the sand and the sun, growing to dislike both as she got older.

It took until her early childhood for Brett to grow into her hate of fun in the sun. It was more of a resentment towards her parents, but she could never really admit that. Instead, she would just say that she hated the beach because she spent so much time there. Really, she hated the fact that her parents chose to go to the beach over taking her to have other childhood experiences. It was at that point when she would actually choose to do her homework instead of playing in the sand and that was a trait that continued on throughout her high school career.

Because of this trait, Brett's academics were always outstanding. Needing something else to focus on, she found a drive in school that most other kids did not have. She would do anything and everything that would give her an excuse to not spend time with her parents. This included student council, choir, sports, cheerleading, debate club and the like. By the time graduation from high school came around, Brett was in the top 2% of her class with full scholarships to just about any school that she wanted to go to. Her choice? NYU.

New York City was far away from her parents. It was not known for its beaches. It wasn’t easy going and there wasn’t anyone that she knew there or anything to remind her of life at home with Mom and Dad. Everything about New York City seemed to tie into what Brett wanted for her life after graduation. Her parents were not thrilled with her choice, but she didn't care. In August 2008, she packed up her bags and headed to a dorm room at the prestigious New York University where she intended to be Pre-Law. She made friends easily and those friends introduced her to the New York City nightlife, which she fell in love with.

But it wasn’t just the drinking, the dancing, and the hooking up. The people were all around intriguing. Some of the poorest in the city were best friends with some of the richest – and while the money aspect of it meant little to Brett, the idea that social classes mixed the way they did amazed her. The nightlife – the way it ran – that was what she found most interesting of all. How intense the conversation became when deciding what club to attend on any given night.

After a year of school mixed with heavy partying and studying the nightlife, Brett had an epiphany. The rich cousin of a friend wanted into a club but was denied. After Brett found out, she laughed it off and made a call to the doorman, who she happened to know quite well from her own experiences in an out of the clubs. The next night, the cousin of that friend was allowed VIP entrance into the club and, for her help, he gave Brett $100 and bought her drinks all night long. It was that event that made Brett realize...there was money in having connections in the partying world. There was also money in knowing what a club needed to make it and how to get customers in. That was what she had been studying all year long…and that was where her real education into a career opportunity began. Slowly, she began making more and more friends in the world of the nightclubs while offering her services to anyone she could, including managers who she befriended and even a couple of owners.

A year later, she was making enough money to move into an apartment with a roommate. She dropped out of school and continued her career full time, expanding into restaurants and club promotion. Even a little event planning. But that was until she met him.

He was the billionaire owner of one of the clubs that she frequented, Shelter. He was gorgeous, younger, and Brett would have fallen into his bed in a heartbeat…had he not been married. That didn’t seem to matter to him – in his words, he had filed for divorce but she wouldn’t sign the papers – a lie that found out about later. She was living in California while he was in New York. Brett wouldn’t budge – she wouldn’t sleep with him and she wouldn’t even meet him for dinner. He was married and that was the end of it for her…but not for him.

For months, he never stopped trying to get her into his bed. (Or, really, just into his life.) He sent her presents, he followed her around, he did everything… then things started to get crazy. After one moment of vulnerability, Brett slept with him…and after that point, he began to outright stalk her. He had people watching here and there was not a move that she made that he did not know about. Things got out of control when she went home for Christmas and he followed. Brett finally broke and lost her cool. Realizing that he had far overstepped his boundaries, he apologized. He promised to take a step back from her personal life, but did offer her a job to come and work for him – saying she was the best at what she did and he wanted her working for him.

Hoping that working for him would satisfy him, Brett eventually agreed. The next 8 months fell into the realm of crazy – she trusted him but then she didn’t, they were on but then they were off…the only thing that seemed to settle after a while was that Brett was badass at her job and he made sure that everyone knew it. Eventually, after a few hard times, Brett fell into a depression for a while and it took a serious commitment to the guy to start bringing her out of it. But after moving to Los Angeles, temporarily, to get another club off it’s feet…things went sour between them.

Brett doesn’t know what happened – things were good one day and then bad the next. He went to London and after a week of waiting for him to call, she only got a business e-mail. It was over. She was hurt. And she needed to go back to New York. So, she quit her job, she moved home, and she is currently taking a little break before she goes back to school in the fall. Pre-Law, like she always should have been. Fortunately, thanks to her generous salary for the year before…she can afford to that.