Her Story
About Susan
I've been a musician my whole life, starting out in third grade on flute. From a young age, I loved how music was a whole other language to communicate with, and I connected with it so early on. I can't imagine not having that in my life. I had been working in the computer industry and did well there, but I never felt like I fit in. I took a break from the corporate world and started teaching music more seriously, something I had done on and off throughout my whole life. That's when I found School of Rock, and I thought, oh my god, these people know what they're doing. They got it going on. They hired me as an instructor, and I worked my way up from doing one instrument to doing multiple instruments to running shows. Then they asked me to be their general manager, and eventually I decided to buy the place from the people that had owned it. It's such a life-changing experience for these students who are in our program, and I just want everybody to know that this is out there and that it is achievable. You don't have to be born a rock star. You learn how to be a rock star.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Susan
01What do you attribute your success to?
I've never been afraid to do my own thing. The perfect example of that would be when I was in third grade and our entire class had to do a play called The Runaway Pancake. There were leading roles and then the rest of the kids were like a dishwasher or a tree or something totally boring, and I'm like, I'm not gonna be wearing a box to be a dishwasher. So right then and there, I said to the teacher, this whole Runaway Pancake takes place in the woods, I think the woods needs a bluebird. And she's like, okay. I had this little ballet dancer bluebird outfit that I thought was pretty, and so I wanted to wear it again, and I basically made a role for myself. That's how I've done my whole life. If I don't see something that appeals to me, I go and make it happen. I actually did really badly in regular school. I failed first grade twice because I'm very, very dyslexic. But I ended up doing high school in three years because I figured out another way to do it. My whole MO is just figure out another way to do it. You have to ask for help, you can't do it on your own, but don't be afraid to just figure out another way. Don't assume you have to just go the status quo. My family's all scientists, like really serious scientists in the world, and here I was horribly dyslexic, and like, oh, I'm gonna go play the flute. I never felt like I had to be what they were because that wasn't my passion.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You gotta be kind of crazy, but in a good way. Embrace the quirkiness of being a musician. Embrace your uniqueness.
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