Meet Suz
“Three or four years ago when I moved to Melbourne, it just wasn’t an option to have a good job from Margaret River. I was very happy to move back here, it was what I wanted.”
Margaret River is known for its stunning landscapes, unspoilt coastlines and ancient underground caves. However, beauty doesn’t pay the bills or satisfy career goals, and so it wasn’t enough to keep Susannah there. Uncertain but ambitious, Suz left her horses behind, trading the rolling spaces of rural WA for metropolitan Melbourne and a marketing job at an architectural firm.
Eighteen months later, Suz felt stifled by the ‘let’s just try this’ approach of traditional marketing - it wasn’t for her. She knew she had to pivot, but opportunities were competitive and often contingent on years in the biz.
“I wanted to work in an area where I could really specialise and I wanted to work with data more and use more qualified data to make marketing decisions,” she explains.
COVID was only beginning to enter the global conversation when Suz found herself at FMD, new to digital and what it meant to be part of a SEM team.
“My journey was different because at first, it was in person. I had no experience in search when I started. About four months or so into the job we all moved to remote working which was quite a different experience when you’re learning the job.”
FMD adapted rapidly. Remote working didn’t impact her growth, as the team came up with new ways to communicate quickly. Keen to escape another round of Melbourne lockdowns, Suz decided to head back home to Margaret River and her horses, thinking she’d only be there for three weeks... except the lockdown didn’t end and FMD fully embraced remote working..
When she first arrived in Melbourne, Susannah says she always had the idea that she’d stay for ten years before making a return to her WA property - FMD pushed her timeline forward, offering Suz an opportunity to stay in Margaret River.
“The move to Melbourne, while I loved living there, was much shorter than what I thought it was going to have to be. I decided to stay in Margaret River and then I bought a horse, so I kind of had to stay at that point!”
Susannah says it demonstrates that FMD doesn’t just talk about work-life balance, they walk the walk and expect their people will too.
“When they say they’re really respectful of work-life balance, they mean it. A lot of agencies say that but don’t really mean it.”
Tucked into a neat home office, Suz says she loves her work, spending days on reports, meeting with clients and expanding her skillset...and then dedicating her afternoons to what she loves - dressage.
“Okay, so you’ve got a 60 by 20 arena,” she begins to explain with a smile on her face. “Most of the time you already have your test so you just ride your horse around in circles and patterns and make it look pretty. It’s hard to get good marks… but it’s what I do. I spend all my time doing it.”
You could say things for Suz have come full circle, from WA to Victoria and back again. While she spends her free time perfecting her fancy footwork in the arena, she’s found another passion in growing her equine family.
“I was doing dressage before Melbourne. I had a really nice horse and then moved to Melbourne. While I was there, she was having babies. She couldn’t compete so I bought a new horse, but now I have a handful of horse babies outside my window,” she says, glancing past her screen and out the window. “I’m glad I came back because otherwise I would’ve missed Sunny’s birth in lockdown!”
Taking a break from horse talk for a moment, Suz goes on to explain that her FMD team has made all the difference as she transitioned back to part-time equestrian and full-time search maven.
“We’re all so different in the SEM team, but we all get along really well. It’s a really inclusive environment. Everyone’s perspective matters.”
“Brian is really great to work with in the sense that he’s very good at recognising your strengths and also helping you grow where you need to. Within the team there’s a really strong attitude of ‘don’t just settle where you’re at. We’re always trying to be better and Brian’s really good at driving that.”
As her career continues to soar, so does Suz’s extended horse family. Soon, she’ll be hearing four new hooves on the ground, as a fresh foal is set to join siblings Sunny and Lola very soon.
“I think I’m going to name her Nina,” Susannah laughs. “I’m not sure yet.”
You can follow Suz’s dressage on Instagram @waldronparkfarm