Bonnie Brown: Google's Millionaire Masseuse

The New York Times has a profile of Bonnie Brown, a former in-house masseuse for Google who, like everyone else employed by the company, makes far more money than you. In 1999, the recently divorced Brown answered a help-wanted ad with the start-up.

For $450 a week she provided stress relief for the 40-person staff. The company also sent her home with stock options--a nice sentiment, but let's face it, how often are start-up stock options worth the paper they're printed on?

After five years, Brown cashed in her options, left the gig, and retired as a millionaire. Now 52, Brown lives in Nevada and is shopping her book, Giigle: How I Got Lucky Massaging Google.

The company's stock, which hit $700 a share last week, has made an estimated 1,000 employees more than $5 million each.

[Photo courtesy of The New York Times.]