Suzet is the new President & CEO of the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA), where she now leads all efforts to attract business and grow the economy of the Loop's financial district ($900B GDP), the largest business district in the US outside of Midtown Manhattan.

Suzet is also widely recognized as a nationally respected public health expert. Most recently, she led Life Sciences at real estate firm Sterling Bay. Before that, she served as CEO of the Illinois Medical District, and earlier as the city's top public health preparedness expert under Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel.

Suzet is an Instructor at Harvard University's prestigious school of public health. She holds a Doctorate in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a bachelor's degree in Biology from Brandeis University, and a Master's in Public Health from Benedictine University.

Suzet is currently the Membership Chair at The Economic Club of Chicago, and she sits on the Board of Directors of Wintrust Financial Corporation, Lurie Children's Hospital, and Board Chair of Chicago Urban League.

Suzet is someone I have deep admiration for. When we spend time together, we rarely talk about work; it's usually about life, God's role in our lives, church, and fun things going on in the city. Despite her long résumé, I often tell her that sometimes I forget how much of a "big deal" she is. But that's what makes her special; she's not the type to remind you, and I've learned that those are usually the smartest and most impressive people.

This is also her second week on the job at CLA, so I am especially grateful she took the time to do this.

When I was starting out, I believed that if you worked hard and prepared yourself properly, that success would come. I could not have been more naive!

Over the course of my career, I've had many people question my ability to do a certain job or enter a certain industry/discipline. I learned that people will attempt to place you in a box, but it didn't take me long to understand that usually, these are just the boxes that others think you should be in, and are no indication of your skill or ability. I'm all for constructive criticism and active learning, but I stopped listening to the madness.

I developed a trusted group of trusted individuals, my personal board of directors, to ask for advice and to accept feedback on what I'm doing or endeavoring to do. And I learned to create my own boxes, so to speak, which for me means that I don't have to fit within any particular box.

I can do many things, I can do hard things, and I seek to challenge myself everyday, while doing better work today than I did yesterday.

I think many people, especially women, struggle with ambition and how that factors into the other aspects of life. There is often a thought of one over the other, such as ambition over family, or ambition over work-life balance. I think many of us have figured out a way to have ambition, act on that ambition, but also to have other meaningful relationships and aspects of everyday life.

What we don't talk about is the notion that it is possible to have everything you want, but perhaps not all at the same time. If you endeavor to be a successful professional, or a leader, you have to understand the seasonality of the various aspects of your life. If you're focusing on seeking higher education to advance your career, the ability to enhance your social calendar may have to take a back seat. If you want to be present at your kid's sporting events, you can build family time into your calendar, but it may require a late night of getting additional work done after the kids have gone to sleep for the evening.

I always say that if it is important enough to you, you will figure out a way to get it done. And I don't just give this as advice, I've lived it myself. My daughter was 3 years old when I went back to school to pursue my doctorate degree. I kept my full-time job and would work all day, and go to classes in the early evening. When I finally made it home, I had to focus on family time and make it quality. But it meant I might be up until one or two in the morning, completing school work and then up again at 5 or 6am to do it all over again. So you have to be honest with yourself and ask, "what's my ambition, how can I prioritize the many things in my life to fit that ambition, and how hard am I willing to work to achieve what I want?"

During my time working in bioterrorism and disaster preparedness and response, I spent a significant amount of money building a stockpile of medical materiel (that's the correct spelling), medications, and medical supplies that would be used to protect Chicagoans, hospitals and the city's public safety staff in the event of any large scale emergency.

I received a lot of criticism about that work and was even accused of being wasteful of taxpayer dollars. When COVID hit, Chicago did not experience the level of PPE and supply shortages that other cities experienced, all due to the presence of that stockpile. I never sought vindication, but it felt good to know that my expertise and gut instinct were correct; I was proud of myself for standing up for what I knew was the right thing to do, despite the criticism.

Life in general. The fragility of life overall feels much higher than it's ever felt to me. The world is upside down, economies are bad, we've lost compassion for humanity and divisiveness is rampant. Somewhere along the way, we have forgotten that our differences are the very things that make our country and our society great, but we seem to want to do away with the very thing that makes us so great.

I believe that we are better and stronger together than we are apart. I don't know how to get back to that, or if we ever will, but I can see that life is much more fragile for so many as a result of this new altered state. 

My privacy, peace of mind, and genuine relationships and connections. It's that simple.