We recently connected with Susan Dickenson and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Susan thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?
I’ve always loved to write. I knew from an early age how to structure a story with a hook, hold, and release. It came so naturally for me that when it was time to declare my college major, my dad said “You already know how to write. Major in something you know nothing about, like business. You’ll make more money in business than journalism.”
So, in 1982, my UNC business degree in hand, I landed the first of many office jobs in what would become the pattern of my life. A manager or peer would ask for help with spelling or editing, keep coming back for more, and at some point say, “Hey, you’re a really good writer.” Then it would take off: letters, memos, audio-visual presentations, speeches, proposals, grants, press releases, marketing brochures, newsletters. Been there, done that. All of it.
In the late 80’s I joined a startup tech company called Perot Systems, founded by presidential candidate and Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot right after he sold his first company – Electronic Data Systems – to General Motors. Perot Systems at that time was headquartered in Reston, Virginia, across the street from a building that was home to the United States Geological Survey. At some point, word got out that the USGS was going to be giving a presentation on a nationwide computer network it was using to share maps and water information with its regional offices around the country. My boss thought someone from Perot Systems should attend and take a few notes, so he sent me. Obviously I didn’t know it at the time, but I was witnessing the birth of the internet.
In 1992, Perot Systems sent me to Menlo Park, Ca., to meet with a guy named Brewster Kahle who had used a special information server to connect the Ross Perot for President campaign workers in all 50 states. After the campaign fizzled, Brewster had figured out how to use his invention, a “Wide Area Information Server” (“WAIS” for short), to search for keywords across big folders of digitized documents.
I was tasked with building a searchable database of our employees’ programming and software skills, and Brewster’s “WAIS” thing is what would power it. The idea was so out-of-the-box at the time, and so “quirky” compared to the outsourcing projects that were Perot System’s bread-and-butter, that it was looked upon as more of a novelty. I recently came upon an online video interview of Brewster in 1992 in which he’s trying to explain distributed networking and search engines. It brought back memories of how impossible it was to explain this kind of technology, much less wrap your head around the potential, of a keyword-searchable, digital “information superhighway.” I literally had no words for it at times and had to make them up as we went along.
After my small team and I typed every Perot Systems employee’s resume into the database (the biggest editing job of my career) and Brewster applied his magic, the real fun began. It worked, and it was unlike anything we’d ever seen. There were mornings I’d come into the office and find several project managers outside my door waiting for me to come in and conduct a search for employees with specific programming skill sets.
Three years later, Perot Systems went public, I exercised my “Perot Systems Pioneer” stock options and became a stay-at-home Northern Virginia swim/soccer/PTA mom to my three daughters. Brewster sold his search-engine technology to AOL for $15 million.
Fast forward to 2003 when, thanks to a decade of well-maintained internet search skills, I accidentally dug up some unsavory chat room talk that necessitated divorcing my ex-husband and moving back to my hometown of High Point, North Carolina with my three daughters.
It was the search query that changed everything. A monumental, life-altering moment that brought about one of the happiest, most colorful, most productive times of my life.
The best way to describe it is like how my grandmother once described her cataract surgery to me: “It’s like someone finally opened the blinds and cleaned my dirty windows and the sun is shining so brightly through them and I can see everything so clearly and that’s the way it should always be.”
I found love and a soulmate for life, developed a profound appreciation for my North Carolina roots, and became so inspired by my surroundings, kids, all the things that were happening and the feelings I was feeling that I ached to write about it. Had to write about it. NEEDED to write.. So I wrote some stories about traveling, my girls, music … and sent them to an editor at the Greensboro News & Record. “Here, use them if you’d like. For free,” I told her.
They published every one of them. I didn’t make a dime, but now I had a … portfolio! Then, as had so often happened in my early days, somebody noticed. A Special Sections editor at the News & Record called me up and said “You’re a good writer. If you want to do some freelance work for me, I can pay you.” For the next couple of years, I wrote for the News & Record, polished my photography skills, picked up some assignments with a few more locals, and pitched to a couple of national lifestyle. magazines.
Coastal Living was my first national score. I clearly remember answering the phone in my kitchen the day the editor called and introduced herself, said she wanted my story and that Coastal Living would pay me a dollar a word. After that, it’s all a blur. I have no idea what I said or how I responded. I was in shock.
By the time the story dropped in Coastal Living’s March 2006 issue, my growing portfolio was live on Monster dot com, and I’d rewritten my resume to showcase more of my marketing, research and writing experience, I had totally reinvented myself as an experienced lifestyle writer and not-too-bad photographer.
A few months later, I got another phone call. THE phone call. From the editor in chief of Home Accents Today, an international, highly respected, widely read, perfect-bound trade industry publication based in High Point (home of the semiannual International Home Furnishings Market). She had spotted my resume and portfolio on Monster dot com, had an opening, and asked if I’d “like to come in and interview for the position of retail editor?”
I got the job. From 2006 to 2020 I was a writer and editor for Home Accents Today, traveling the country and world to interview, tour, photograph and write about the beautiful world of home accents, specifically decorative accessories, lighting, rugs, textiles, wall art, occasional furniture, and the people who design, manufacture and sell them. I accepted every international assignment that was offered, which took me to annual trade shows and artisan tours in Spain, Ireland, Germany, Morocco, Italy and South America. Early on, I learned what a great assistant my husband could be, so I started dragging him along and extending our itinerary by a few days for side trips. We became experts at navigating Europe by rail and added amazing adventures in France, England, Belgium and Switzerland to our memory archives.
In a typical year, Home Accents Today published 28 issues, to which I contributed hundreds, if not thousands, of stories during my time there. As the world went digital, so too did we, and my editorial job expanded to include blogging, setting up and maintaining our social media accounts, web videos and podcasting. I was named editor in chief at the end of 2016 and served in that capacity until April 2020 the Covid pandemic shut down the wholesale side of the home furnishings industry.
Oh well, I thought. I had been thinking about retiring in a year or two anyway, so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. I took to “early retirement” like a pro. I could stay up late, sleep in, do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, except there was a pandemic, and nowhere to go.
And then it happened. In November of 2020, I became a grandmother to a beautiful, charming little boy. The most wonderful grandson the world has ever known. Pure joy.
And then it happened again. In December of 2021 I became a grandmother to a gorgeous, angelic little girl. The most wonderful granddaughter the world has ever known. Bliss.
My grandchildren’s mother (aka my multi-tasking, entrepreneurial oldest daughter Sophie) suddenly had her hands full. In addition to her new role as a mommy to “two under two,” she and her husband sold their D.C. townhome and moved to an eight-acre compound on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
As Sophie’s family and home grew, so too did her social media marketing company, which is how I ended up back at my keyboard every morning – writing, creating reels, storytelling, photo-editing and posting about home decor, lighting, rugs, textiles, wall art, upholstery and furniture for one of her premier clients, a high-end home furnishings and interior design retail chain.
January will mark one year since I first logged on to The Kellogg Collection’s instagram account, but the company has been on my radar since 2014, when I profiled it for Home Accents Today. Just like the loyalists who comprise their multigenerational customer base, I’ve been a Kellogg Collection fan ever since.
The desk in my home office faces a big window overlooking a backyard forest with deer, turkeys and a moss covered waterfall. I look forward to my daily doses of fresh product photos and enjoy staying connected to an industry I grew to love. When I need to consult with my daughter about wording or style, it’s done via FaceTime, so I can enjoy the added bonus of a quick visit and screen-kiss with my grandkids.
Since early summer, I’ve been using my writing skills as part of a local effort to obtain information on my community’s watersheds and water quality. Prompted by the surprise discovery that the river running through my small town is on the nation’s “Impaired Waters” list, I’ve written dozens of letters, notes and summary reports to local, state and national agencies, legislators requesting current testing and assessment results. Thus far, not a single person or agency has responded with the data I’ve requested – water data that is supposed to be collected and recorded for public access via a national network that debuted to interested parties in the early 1990’s at the U.S. Geological Survey offices in Reston Virginia (!)
Susan, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a long-form writer, as you can tell from my response to your opening question, so I think I’ve answered most of these. As a writer and content creator, I think what sets me apart in my professional writing is that I only write about what I know. I talk to my readers through writing, rather than write something for them to read. There’s a difference.
I’m honest to a fault, and that applies to my work as well. Facts are a writer’s greatest defense.
When journaling or writing stuff for my grandkids to read one day (which is where my current state of mind is trying to take me), the ability to harness passion and save it until you can unleash it and write about it is what elevates a story to a “great” story.
The photos I’ve uploaded are from various assignments. The Christmas tree is a vintage 1975 original by French design icon Pierre Balmain, in the lobby of the Es Saadi hotel in Marrakech, Morocco. The hotel has kept the tree exactly as Mr. Balmain decorated it and they bring it out every December. It’s spectacular, and so is the Es Saadi. The room keys are gorgeous – big brass keys with cobalt blue enamel. I covered the Minyadina Trade Show in Rabat in December 2017.
Diane Keaton is the woman in the black hat (in the black and white photo). This photo was shot in High Point when she debuted a new line of lighting (and bought the cover flap ad of our market daily issues).
The long red sofa is in the Christopher Guy showroom in High Point – he’s a high-end luxury designer (think Dubai, NY penthouse, Russian oligarch…) I profiled him several years ago and he was nothing like I’d imagined. He talked at length about his love for fast cars and how he nearly died when he wrecked his Lamborghini in Singapore in 2010.
The tiled outdoor staircase is in the town center of Caltagirone, Sicily. I was invited there to tour the city’s ceramic studios and artisans, and I made a personal video to accompany the article I wrote for Home Accents Today (on YouTube). This was, without a doubt, the most delicious excursion I’ve ever taken – the host organization fed us constantly: pasta (both red and white at each meal), fresh seafood, sublime sweets, and lots of wine. It was divine.
The “Story to Tell” photo is from one of my market breakfasts. The High Point Market Authority and AmericasMart Atlanta would sponsor these gatherings at their semiannual markets, and I would invite retailers and interior designers from around the country to attend. After breakfast I would lead a discussion … throw out questions pertaining to business, styles and trends, and then write it up for the magazine.
The profile photo (with the camel) was taken in a Dallas store owned by two of my best retail friends and travel buddies – the shop is called “Coco and Dash” (named for the mother and daughter owners).
There’s also a photo of me with my daughter and grandson, taken near my daughter’s home in December of last year, about a week before my granddaughter was born. The body of water is the Chesapeake Bay.
We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.
My husband (and muse) Tim has been by my side, encouraging me, inspiring me, and traveling with me since the first day I got published, back in 2004. My girls and I had moved to North Carolina from Arlington, Virginia the summer before, and a friend encouraged me to “get myself out there” on Match dot com. In those days it was a much smaller site with a very basic interface. You’d see friends and neighbors on the site.
I set up an account, hid my name and photo, and began paying attention to this one particular guy who always popped up in my feed. He was wearing a John Lennon t-shirt under something akin to a good Brooks Brothers wool overcoat, with the most inviting eyes and smile, and it looked like someone had snapped the photo just as he was opening an outside door to leave his house.
When I read his bio, it was by far the most well-written bio I’d ever read. I read it several times and decided that if HE wrote it, he’s super-intelligent, creative and interesting. If he didn’t write it, then someone close to him must have written it – a sister, mother or daughter – which wouldn’t be so bad, because that means he comes from good stock! After a few emails, we had our first phone conversation and laughed almost the entire way through.
Everything I’ve achieved since that day in January 2004 is because Tim has been right by my side. He’s also my fly fishing teacher – we’ve fished all over the country and in Canada and he ties the most beautiful flies. When I was starting out, I documented my fly fishing journey in a WordPress blog (but I had to stop when I got hooked – I was too busy fly fishing to write about it).
Oh! And Tim DID write his own Match bio. He’s a GREAT writer and has helped me with titles, headlines and writer’s block many, many times. I literally fell in love with his writing style before I fell in love with him.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Once I held my first grandchild, everything changed. So, since November, 2020, I’ve been working on getting all my writings, photos and videos organized and digitized and labeled/captioned. I understand now why I’ve been hauling around these boxes of old writings and photos from my elementary, high school and college years, as well as the past 30 years. Almost every reel I create on my personal Instagram page is done with my grandkids in mind. If I die before I find the patience to write my life story, I want to be sure they can always find their “Gaga” on YouTube, Instagram, MuckRack, CanvasRebel, etc.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susandickenson/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susandickenson/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/olijanso/videos
- Other: https://muckrack.com/susan-dickenson/portfolio