Julie Gilbert at a glance

Age: 37 Title: Senior vice president, Best Buy, in charge of training, leadership development and increasing the company's female market share Born: Draper, S.D., population 92 (as of 2000 census) Music: Country (Waylon and Willie and the boys), hip-hop, rock On the nightstand: "The Great Bridge," by David McCullough, about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge; Vanity Fair; a Bergdorf Goodman catalog Biggest splurge: Great restaurants, good wine, plenty of friends Where everyone knows her name: The Palm Restaurant, on Times Square in New York. "It's like Cheers. I walk in and everyone goes 'Juuulie!' I sit down at the bar and here comes a Cosmo." Dream dinner dates: Diane Sawyer, Gandhi, Jesus. Most admired female leaders: Oprah ("She has used her fame to help other people"); Catherine the Great ("She was forced into a marriage she didn't want to be in, to a guy who didn't really want to be married and who had mental issues, and still went on to take over Russia and impact a lot of cultural and educational pieces in powerful ways"); Condoleezza Rice ("That's a tough world to play in; she does it with grace and style and firmness and an edge.") Dog or cat? Dog. Big dogs.