Meet Susie Black

We were lucky to catch up with Susie Black recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Susie , so excited to talk about all sorts of important topics with you today. The first one we want to jump into is about being the only one in the room – for some that’s being the only person of color or the only non-native English speaker or the only non-MBA, etc Can you talk to us about how you have managed to be successful even when you were the only one in the room that looked like you?

Post-college, I planned a career as a writer, but fate had other plans. A family crisis threw me into an improbable situation. Baptism by fire got me into the rag biz. I accepted a job working for my dad as a ladies’ apparel sales rep, traveling the deep Southern states. My life veered off in a completely different direction than I intended, and it would never be the same.
As a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry in the Deep Southern states, I had to prove myself every day. When I started my career, there were no other women road reps. No one, except my mentor father and I, thought I’d last a season.
Grit and stubborn perseverance to prove the apparel industry wrong kept me going, no matter how daunting the challenge. And prove them wrong I did- and succeeded beyond my wildest dreams. I took a sledgehammer to every glass ceiling I encountered and smashed it to smithereens. And the bonus? I opened many doors for the next generation of women executives to succeed in male-dominated industries.
I learned to be effective and successful when I was the only one in the room who looked like me by showing, not telling, that this woman had earned her seat at the table and would not be denied.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Like the protagonist in my Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, I was a ladies’ swimwear sales executive. The most critically important skill a sales exec must have to succeed is to be a good storyteller. Fortunately, I’ve been telling stories since I learned how to talk. One thing I was told as a sales executive was to know your product inside and out. I heard the same thing when I started writing cozy mysteries: write what you know. If you don’t know it, either do the research and learn it, or don’t dare to write it. Whether you’re an author or a sales exec, you’re selling yourself, and readers, like buyers, can sniff out a phony in a heartbeat, and then you and whatever kind of story you’re telling are toast.
I came to write in the cozy mystery genre because I love solving puzzles. My parents would certainly confirm I have always asked a lot of questions, and I am naturally curious (some narrow-minded people say I am nosy…go figure…LOL). So, writing mysteries was the natural next step for me to take. Since I’d never written a novel before, the only thing I knew to do was to apply the same storytelling skills I’d successfully used hawking bikinis to writing a tale. It turns out that how you present an apparel line is the same way you write a story. Both have a beginning, a middle, an ending, and a point of view.
So, where did my story ideas come from? From the start of my career, I kept a daily journal that chronicled the quirky, interesting, and often challenging people I encountered as well as the crazy situations I’ve gotten myself into and out of. The protagonist of the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series, Holly Schlivnik, is based on me. The journal entries are the foundation of all my writing for the stories that comprise the Holly Swimsuit Mystery Series. With a dollop of imagination, a pinch of angst, and a decades-long career chocked to the gills with juicy characters, I had more stories itching to be told in my daily journal than time to write them.
Who could push a sales exec to dream of murder and mayhem? Who else but a buyer? After completing a rather challenging conversation with an important but difficult account, I imagined how good it would feel with my hands around her scrawny neck, squeezing the life out of her. While the notion of knocking off my annoying customers was wildly appealing, a horizontally striped prison uniform making my four-foot, eight-inch body look like a barbershop pole and a fire hydrant had a child wasn’t a pretty sight. The viable alternative? Writing humorous murder mysteries set in the Los Angeles garment center. Brilliant and cathartic! In one fell swoop, eliminate a pain-in-the-patootie buyer, avoid life in prison, and still get the order. It doesn’t get any better than that.
To date, I have eight published books. Four titles have won awards. I have one manuscript contracted, but it has not been given a release date, and another has been recently submitted to my editor.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, the three qualities of mine that were the most impactful in my journey were the ability to roll with the punches, persistence, and a belief that change is a natural part of life and that things happen for a reason, even if we don’t always understand why.

At the start of my writing career, I met the famed mystery author Harlen Coben, who gave me great advice that I would pass along to someone at the early stage of their journey:
Keep going; no matter what, keep going.
Trust your gut.
Believe in yourself.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

They taught me to never let anyone define me or step on my dreams.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Book cover artwork: The Wild Rose Press Publishing Company.
Fabric rolls photo: Sirena Swimwear

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