Check Out Susan Sutton’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Sutton.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I became a mom just before my 16th birthday. Like a lot of young moms, I did not have a clear plan for my future. I was trying to grow up while raising a child, and I learned pretty quickly how difficult it can be to get ahead when you have limited resources and support.

Over the years, I built a career, raised my family, and had opportunities I never would have imagined at 15. Looking back, I also realized how much the right person or the right support at the right time can change someone’s path. That realization eventually led me to start The EMBER Project.

The EMBER Project supports women who became mothers young as they work toward education, career, and financial stability. Mentoring is at the heart of what we do, but we also help women connect to resources and overcome some of the practical barriers that can make moving forward difficult.

Today, I lead The EMBER Project while also working in healthcare sales leadership. We have continued to grow our programs, partnerships, and reach throughout Northeast Ohio, and I also host The EMBER Project Podcast, where we have honest conversations about early motherhood, poverty, resilience, relationships, education, and building a life you are proud of.

I certainly did not have everything figured out at 16, and honestly, I still don’t always have everything figured out at 51. I just kept taking the next step. That is really what I hope EMBER helps other women do too.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Oh, definitely not. I became a mom at 15, so there were a lot of years when I was figuring things out as I went. Money was tight, I made plenty of mistakes, and there were times when I was just trying to get from one problem to the next. I did not have some big plan for how my life was going to turn out.

Starting The EMBER Project has been a lot like that too. I knew why I wanted to do it, but I knew very little about actually running a nonprofit. I have had to learn about grants, fundraising, volunteers, boards, programs, and about a hundred other things I did not know I needed to know. We have tried things that worked and things that definitely did not.

Probably one of the hardest lessons has been realizing that you cannot help everyone. Sometimes people are not ready for the help you are offering, and sometimes what you think they need is not what they actually need. I still struggle with that. But I think a lot of my life has really been about figuring things out, adjusting when something does not work, and taking the next step anyway.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I really have two sides to my work. Professionally, I am a Regional Director of Sales for Molina Healthcare. I lead sales teams and managers, and a lot of my work is about developing people, building relationships, creating accountability, and figuring out what is working and what is not. I have spent much of my career in healthcare, particularly working with Medicare and underserved communities. I think I am probably known for being pretty direct, asking a lot of questions, and expecting people to take ownership of their work, but also making sure they have what they need to be successful.

Then there is The EMBER Project, which I founded to support women who became mothers young. We focus on mentoring, education, career development, and removing some of the barriers that can keep women from moving forward. Over the last couple of years, we have grown beyond mentoring to offer additional education and career support, childcare assistance, workshops, and The EMBER Project Podcast.

I am proud of both parts of my work. I am proud of the career I have built, especially considering where I started, and I am incredibly proud that EMBER has grown from an idea into an organization that is actually helping women.

I am not sure that what sets me apart is anything particularly complicated. I genuinely like people, I am curious about why things work the way they do, and I am usually willing to ask the question everyone else is thinking. Whether I am leading a sales team or working with EMBER, I tend to look at what is getting in the way and ask, “Okay, so what can we actually do about it?”

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
Persistence, without question. I have a saying that I use a lot: “I will not quit until I am proud.”

That does not mean I keep doing something the same way when it clearly is not working. I will change the plan, try something different, ask for help, learn something new, or start over if I need to. But I have a really hard time giving up on something that matters to me.

That has probably been the most consistent thing throughout my career and with The EMBER Project. I have heard no plenty of times. I have made mistakes. I have had ideas that did not work nearly as well as I thought they would. But I am pretty good at getting disappointed, being annoyed about it for a little while, and then figuring out what I am going to do next.

I do not need everything to go perfectly. I just need to keep moving until I can look at what I have done and feel proud of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theemberproject.org
• Instagram: susansutton847
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570077087151
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-myers-sutton-775858207/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/49ppX7tUj8deKYqg4enAVn?si=jZFDEgWNQuym9-QJEDCaLg