We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Susan L Petrella a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Susan L, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.
I’ve had a very ecletic career and have varied interests (art, fashion, design, beauty, tech etc.), and with my Aquarian vision, sounds hokey but I see things differently so I bring that uniqueness to my founders, small business clients… Also, I have oodles of resources and connections to rocket ventures forward…
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Being the “Rockstar” Consultant was a natural progression… Entrepreneurship runs in my family, both on the paternal and maternal sides… And, from the beginning of my career, I haven’t hesitated to run w/new challenges from leading a never before tried fundraising project for the Art Institute of Chicago, to writing a “Women in Business” column for Buffalo’s Business First, to teaching as Adjunct Faculty: Business Administration, Marketing, to launching a marketing/management services business for culinary professionals (chefs) and food/wine businesses (One client was named one of the Top 10 Pastry Chefs in America, the other was showcased in Toronto Life, an Absolut Vodka ad), to having a gourmet dessert busienss, Dessert Arts, a gourmet coffee and gifts business, Java Express, to being part of the team worked to launch Praxair’s Client portal to curating the 1st ever TEDx event in Orange County CA to hosting a new arts/culture podcast, BOUNCE…
I’m proud of all the intrapreneurial and entrepreneurial adventures I’ve had… It’s all led to being able to “rocket” my clients to success… I can identify w/their challenges, wins, loses, pivots and I love love being able to enable them to gain new insights about their venture, I love their stories and being their cheerleader is the best!
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Actually, in the years before COVID, I bake so I had this flourless chocolate cake I had made for 20+ years… I looked for commercial kitchens in SoCal in which to bake but they were few and far between… However, during COVID, I had the opportunity to join PCR SBDC as a Business Advisor and realized this was my niche, this is what I loved, startups/small businesses and their journey to success… I knew that’s my niche and that I’m very very good at it… So, I still bake but it’s family and friends, as for the flourless chocolate cake, I haven’t made it in years, 3 layer cakes is one specialty I love now…
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Actually, I wanted to go into the Foreign Service, I was one of seven individuals accepted into the University of Chicago’s Master of Arts, Middle Eastern Studies program, did a year, left but later went back and got an MBA, University of Chicago at Illinois and the rest is history…
Contact Info:
- Website: www.susanpetrella.com
- Instagram: rockstarsusan
- Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/susanrockstarconsultant/