AND WE’RE OFF I don’t put the dress on until after the kids are asleep, so around 7:15 I go into hyper drive. I have 40 cocktail dresses that I’ve bought over the years, and I pull a few out to see what I want to wear — it’s hard to take an auction in a full-length dress, they make me feel inhibited. If there’s a color associated with the charity and I have a dress that matches, I’ll wear that. If I’ve worked with them before, I check online to ensure I’m not wearing the same thing I wore at their last event. Sometimes, as a special treat, I let Beatrice stay up late and pretend to put makeup on her as well. She zips me up. She’s a pro by now.

LEAVING At 7:30 I high-five my husband, throw on a coat and I’m out the door. If I’m running late I’ll take the subway with high heels and earrings in my bag. No one can tell I’ve got a cocktail dress on. If it’s far away I’ll take an Uber.

PREPERFORMANCE POWWOW I arrive 30 to 45 minutes before I go on stage. The beauty is that everyone has started without me. By 8 guests have had a cocktail hour, eaten their appetizers and dinner, and are hearing the last round of speeches. Or they’re watching the charity’s call to action video, which highlights who is being impacted and benefiting from their donation tonight. I meet with the event coordinator to make sure we’re on the same page and ask what their goal is for the paddle raise, how much they want to raise in the room and which tables they feel are going to be the big bidders. And we review any notes they want to feed me before I go up.

SHOWTIME Before the M.C. announces me, I’m backstage at 9 collecting my thoughts. I always have my first line of the evening solidified so that the minute I rap down my gavel I know how I am going to engage the audience. Then I gauge their reaction so I know how the rest of the evening will go.