A Day at a Time: Susan Levy's Approach to Daily Impact and Purposeful Work
“My whole life, I’ve always been driven, worried about what the next year or quarter might bring. Now, I’m at a point in my life where I only worry about doing really great work and about tomorrow. Quite literally, tomorrow.”
I had the honor of photographing Susan Levy and she was kind enough to share some of her journey with me.
“I learned early in my entrepreneurial journey that, while my peers might boast about being booked out weeks in advance, as long as at the end of every day I am fully booked tomorrow, and as long as that keeps happening, every day, I’m doing ok. Our clients don’t want to wait three months to be able to meet with us. It took me a long time to feel confident that it’s ok to not know what my calendar looks like next week. At the end of every day, I can reflect that I’m engaged and my work has meaning.”
“I’ve been in the consumer health and wellness industry for over 35 years. It’s an industry that has undergone a lot of change. Over the course of the first 25 years of my career, companies got bought and sold and sometimes my role would just change a bit, and sometimes my role would be eliminated. Eventually, after a reorganization, I got laid off and started consulting on a “temporary basis” while I looked for a “real job”. That was over 12 years ago. After what I thought would just be an in-between gig. I now lead a team of 7 and last year we did 52 projects for 31 clients. We help companies acquire and sell brands, switch prescription drugs to over-the-counter status, and build marketing strategies which I love. I love our clients and the variety of things we work on.”
“Last year our firm rebranded and I went to our website designer’s photographer to get a new headshot done. The photographer might as well have been taking my passport photo—I hated the result so much that I didn’t even update LinkedIn with the new picture. A friend had her pics done by Alissa and the result was so amazing that I felt compelled to have my new headshot redone. I am so glad that I did; Alissa made me look as strong and confident on the outside as she made me feel on the inside.”
“I want to drive the self-care industry forward. I was recently named to the board of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and so much of what my team and I are doing is going to drive the future of consumer healthcare empowerment. As long as every day, we are making a difference in improving Americans’ access to safe over-the-counter healthcare solutions, the work that we are doing today and tomorrow is meaningful.”
Thank you, Susan, for sharing your journey with us.