The word 'courtesan' casts in many people's minds the notion of 'prostitute'. What we've discovered is that is that the great courtesans of history were so much less prostitutes and so much more the great women of their time.

Centuries before feminism, affirmative action, women executives and Ivy League educations, some women had to resort to very direct ways to get ahead. These women, the courtesans, achieved wealth and status through talent, hard work and tactics and were proud of it. Courtesans were the accomplished women of their time. For them, it wasn't just about sex; after all, men could and did get sex from just about anywhere. It was about their gaiety, their charm, their seeminglyunassailable sense of self.

They had a brilliance and grace that kept men spellbound. Courtesanswere often lowly born, but at some point in their lives decided that if this was the tenuous lot that life was handing them, then they would use everything they had to achieve status, wealth and power.

Courtesans have populated the worlds of art, politics and power throughout history, becoming celebrated and powerful in their own right. They led brilliant lives so one assumes that they where extraordinarily beautiful. The fact is that most were not. What they did have however was gaiety, brilliance, sass, grace, charm, the expression of beauty and an understanding of the mechanics of power.

For these women, achieving what they wanted in life meant employing a range of devices - beauty alone was not enough. They used intelligence and tactics, rather than beauty, to get them what they wanted. They constructed themselves, employing their best features as their prize; down playing anything that didn't support their campaign.

They understood that beauty could be engineered; it was not all natural and that many beautiful things were constructed. They recognized that to live brilliantly they must construct through artifice and execute with guile.

They were superb executors of the notion of beauty. That is their legacy to us: pride in their accomplishments, their determination to execute a strategy and to live brilliantly. They were the feted and acclaimed superstars of their time. They were as much tacticians as the celebrated men of war and power.

Wall Street Courtesan celebrates these women and teaches today's women how to apply the courtesan art in the modern world. We've bound together all of their arts, their devices, their skills and talents into the WSC programme, along with the best from today's successful women to say 'You can live brilliantly'. This is how to do it'. 

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