Dear Readers,

I heard her stories and was entranced by her beautiful Spanish accent. It was the first time I met Susana Perez. Her presence left an indelible impression on me. We were in a writing class that I was hosting, and Susana wrote about some of her childhood memories. My soul connected with the exotic locations she described. I laughed with her family members, even though I had never met them. Susana brought them alive with her words. Years later, I have accumulated many opportunities to get to know more about her. We often enjoy lunches and teas. Yet, each time she and I visit, more layers reveal themselves. This fascinating woman is internationally known in the business world. She is respected globally by colleagues and leaders in her field. I could fill volumes with her stories (which I have encouraged her to write). For now, you will glimpse a small portion of a larger magnificent story. 

Susana was born in Caracas, Venezuela on the foothills of the Avila Mountain. As a child she would walk the Cordillera de la Costa Mountain range and visit the rivers and waterfalls.  There was always a connection to nature. “I know those mountains like the palm of my hand,” she said. Susana was born in her childhood home because she was her mother’s seventh baby; her mother went into labor too quickly to get to the hospital. As a young girl, from her windows, Susana could see many flower farms: roses, lilies, gladiolas, daisies, and carnations bloomed. Of Susana’s siblings of eight children, one died from a heart defect on her third day of life. Two of her brothers passed away, one at age 67 and the other at age 69. Three of the grown siblings still live in Venezuela under the most recent governmental and humanitarian crisis. Susana lives in Colorado, and she has a sister that lives in Ohio.

Two characteristics that stand out about her family was their value on education and their closely-knitted connection. Her mother attended a French school and could speak both French and Spanish. It was common in those years for women to get their training in literature and crafts instead of Math or the sciences, Susana explained. Susana’s father received his university degree in civil engineering. He owned a construction firm with an American partner. He built roads and dams. Susana’s father’s parents both died young, and so her father lived with an aunt far from the family farm. With the mediocre or lack of roads, travel was difficult. Susana said that his experiences were part of his inspiration for building quality roads – to connect Caracas to other cities.  When she was a child, Caracas had a population of about half a million with much farming on the outskirts of town. Now, Caracas has urbanized and has a population of over six million. Reader, where do you garner your inspiration?

During the first years of their marriage, Susana’s mother would travel to the worksite camps with her husband. One of their children was even born in a camp in the Amazon jungle.  “I can’t imagine how she did that,” Susana said. “She is a hero”. However, after the fourth child was born, it was more difficult for her mother to move the family to the camps, so she started staying home while her husband traveled for work. Do you have a unique family story, Reader?

As a young girl, Susana attended a Catholic school. As part of her school activities, the nuns took her to the poorest areas of Caracas to help meet the needs of residents living there. “I could see with my eyes, the pain, the scarcity of resources. It had a high impact on my life. The compassion for others and to be aware that you are not the center of the world – these were values the nuns taught me,” she said. Susana’s father placed great importance on his children having an education, even his daughters.  A woman getting a good education was at odds with many of his contemporaries.  Yet, in his life observations, he saw that if a woman was in a marriage where there was abuse, she did not have an option to care for herself, so she stayed in these dangerous relationships. He wanted his daughters to be capable of taking care of themselves and not being “submitted to the life of another person,” Susana said. “He wanted us to have the reigns of our own lives.” Did your parents greatly influence your education choices, Reader?

In the United States, we have undergraduate work that typically takes a person four years to complete. Then they receive their bachelor’s degree. In Venezuela, the undergraduate years of college are called licenciado. However, it would be the equivalent to what we call our Master’s degree. It requires a five-year commitment instead of our four. Susana’s original desire was to be a doctor. She started her pre-med courses; however, her traditional father told her that “this was not for women.” In Venezuela, first-year medical students work in the public hospital. It is for people who are typically poor and cannot afford private care. “It is one of the best places to learn. The preparation is very good,” Susana said. However, her father did not want her in that setting. He wanted Susana to take a more intellectual path rather than the hands-on work with patients. Susana said she did not want to be in conflict with her father. Therefore, she changed her major to chemistry. Her father praised her choice and encouraged her. He wanted Susana to appreciate that “chemistry was the art of science,” Susana explained. She said that everything has to do with chemistry. “It is important to life.” She decided to aim for a career teaching chemistry and doing research in that field. Reader, what prompted your career choices?

As well, college brought new changes for Susana. Before this, she had been very protected in her home and her Catholic all-girls school. Now she was being introduced to a lot of new things, such as boys in the classroom. As well, it was the first time she mixed with other people of different social, economic or ideological backgrounds. “I felt I was in a very new world,” she said. Susana said her first tendency was to seek out girls with similar backgrounds as her own. However, she decided to expand her knowledge. “I realized I was excluding myself.” By opening herself to different backgrounds, she said, “I was delighted that I was able to learn from others.” Reader, when did your heart open to others who were raised differently than you?

Shortly after finishing high school, Susana met Arturo Bencosme. They started dating. Susana went on to complete her first three years of undergraduate studies at the Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV) in Caracas. Then in 1970, Arturo and Susana married. The couple left Venezuela so he could attend Stanford University in California, USA.  Arturo completed two master’s degrees.  As well, in December 1971, they celebrated the birth of their first son who they named Arturo.

The next year, the couple returned to Venezuela and Susana returned to her studies. As well, they celebrated another pregnancy. However, their joy turned to grief when their first daughter was stillborn. The grief consumed Susana. She did not want to go to school. She just wanted to be home in her pain. “I lost all interest; I was really depressed,” she said. Her fellow classmates came to her house to encourage her. “They were a big support to me”, she said. They told Susana that they would drag her back to school. They told her that they all started together and they would finish school together. “This really moved me,” she said, and she returned to the classroom. The experience of losing her daughter, the grief and the path to healing “made me stronger. I did not know I had that strength,” Susana said.  The classmates who supported her are still her dear friends today. They too have gone on to develop their careers. They are now spread out around the world: Chile, Spain, United States and Venezuela. “They became like sisters to me,” she said. Susana said, to this day, they still talk or email daily with each other. Do you have a lifelong friend, Reader?

Later that year, Susana continued her undergraduate work in chemistry at Universidad Simón Bolívar. Susana, her husband and son moved to Merida, Venezuela in the Andes Mountains. Susana’s first teaching and research position was in the Department of Chemistry, Universidad de los Andes.

Then in January 1975, her second daughter was born with complications. She had heart surgery, but only lived eight days. “In the span of one year, I lost two baby girls”, she said. Susana said she became stronger, but she also developed a shield around her. She did not want her deep grief to affect her connection with her husband and three-year-old son, Arturo.  “I repressed my emotions,” she said. It is a survival skill that worked for her at that time, but now Susana said it is a habit that “I have to work very hard to break”. For two years, Susan taught. Then, a year later, in 1976, she miscarried another baby. It added more grief. It is only now that many decades have passed that she is able to look back on it and say, “I became more compassionate with people who have gone through a similar experience.” Reader, have you experienced a difficult loss? How did you manage your grief?

Susana wanted to stay busy focusing on and continuing to grow and learn in her field of studies. The Venezuelan government, at that time, “really pushed for students to get a higher education,” Susana said. “Many of the people of my generation are in top positions around the world. The government at that time invested in talents and brains”. By 1977, she and her husband returned to Stanford, so that they could both get their PhD. His was in infrastructure planning, and Susana’s was in chemistry.

In June of 1981, Susana was surprised when she realized at age 31, she was pregnant again. She was frightened about losing another baby. She was older and had a full life with her family, school and work. “It was a moment of panic. I didn’t know if I could go through this again,” she said. She reached out for help. However, the first doctor she went to told her he could immediately schedule an abortion. “It was said in a cold matter-of-fact manner”, she said. Susana knew she wanted her baby. She had just been trying to express her fears and concerns, not request an abortion. She stood up and walked out of his office. Then, she reached out to a medical student from Spain who was studying obstetrics. He recognized the seriousness of her pregnancy. “He was so encouraging,” Susana said. He helped her become a patient with the Stanford Hospital clinic that focused on high-risk pregnancies.

Susana built a bond with her medical team. They all knew this was going to be a risky preplanned Cesarean birth. Before entering the delivery room, she had been warned that the baby would be taken immediately from her, checked and incubated for a time, until they were sure everything was okay. The day of delivery, the whole medical team came into the room with festivity and happiness, Susana said. They wanted to help make her laugh and ease her fears. She didn’t know it at the time, but many family members and friends from Venezuela were right outside the door with champagne to celebrate the expectant birth. As soon as the baby was born, Susana said, “I heard him crying; then the nurses whisked him away.” However, a nurse came back to Susana and placed her newborn son, Rafael, in her arms. “The baby is perfect” they told her. While Susana and her husband adored their new baby, they could hear screams of joy and champagne bottles popping as family, friends and classmates stood outside the delivery door in celebration of this successful birth. Reader, have you been successful at building a good support system for yourself?

In 1982, now with their PhDs, Susana and her husband returned to Venezuela again. For the next four years, Susana worked with the well-known Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research (IVIC). It was the top research group in the country and held excellent international credibility. Susana was also teaching at the graduate level for Universidad Central de Venezuela. There, she was leading a research group working on themes related to the oil industry.

In 1985, Susana was invited back to Stanford for three months as a visiting scholar. Returning to Venezuela later that year, Susana became a student and graduated from a year-long advanced management program at the Instituto de Estudios Superiores de Administración in Caracas in 1986. Then, for the next four years, she worked as a chemical process consultant for two different companies.

Throughout these years, Susana and her husband, Arturo, were in a routine of family and work. Susana had a friend, Rosa, who would help her in their home. She hesitates to call Rosa the American term of maid, she said, because they were friends. She said that Rosa was her “right hand” and efficient in working with the children and running the household activities. “She was with me for 34 years,” Susana said, and they are still friends today.

By 1990, Susana was recruited to work as a senior management consultant with the international consulting firm, Arthur D. Little (ADL) of Venezuela. At that time, ADL was doing businesses in 65 countries. Two years into her work with ADL, Susana experienced a tipping point moment – one of those insightful times in life when you recognize a change is required. It started when she was the lead consultant for an international paint company.

The organization hired Susana and her team to determine ways to improve their manufacturing processes. After weeks of diagnostic analysis of the production process, Susana presented recommendations for change to the president and the lead executives. They were pleased and wanted Susana to begin the implementation. In her initial steps, it meant going into the plant and starting with changes in the plant processes. However, when arriving there, the union refused to allow her into the building. At first, Susana’s reaction was one of, “Who do they think they are to not let us into the building? We were hired by the company. This is our job.” However, before she said all of this to the union foreman, she stayed calm and held a civil conversation with him. The union leader said to Susana and her team, “You never asked us what we thought about the problems. It was disrespectful to the workers. You should have interviewed the workers first. The managers sit in their offices. We produce the paint that they sell.”

Susana recognized that this was a pivotal moment. She realized she needed to, as she described, “keep my ego down and listen”. When the conversation was nearing its end, to show that she understood what she was hearing, Susana took her project pages and ripped them in two. Her team was surprised, but the union leader understood that she was going to start again. He and Susana agreed to review the company, taking the workers’ concerns into consideration before make a final recommendation. She said to him, “I understand, and I apologize to you. Can we start over again?” Reader, how do you respond when you recognize the need to change?

Susana now had to go back to the president of the company and explain to him why her initial analysis would not be acceptable. She convinced him to allow her the time to assess the company with the inclusion of the worker’s viewpoint. The new and final project report included changes that made for a better environment and productivity for the company.

Susana said of her initial conversation with the union leaders, “That day changed my life.” She envisioned a future when she could implement a deeper understanding of the consulting role. She began an internal dialogue to define her next steps. Before, she had been working with companies about chemistry – from a technological perspective. Going forward, she wanted a comprehensive viewpoint.  The perspective could no longer be solely technical, but would also include the best processes and practices from the workers’ point of view. More emphasis would be placed on listening and understanding the culture of the organization. “Chemistry of the people,” Susana said, “would be a paradoxical shift.” Reader, how would you describe your listening skills?

Susana and her husband’s professional lives flourished in those years. However, another change occurred. Susana and Arturo drifted apart in their marriage. She said, “little by little, we became friends, but not a couple.” They separated for two years and by 1994, they divorced.

Within another two-year span, change entered her life again – this time in her career. Susana said that it is easy to “get burned out” as a consultant. It is demanding work and the expectations for success are high. She recognized that she needed “time out for herself,” she said, so she could recharge. In 1996, she took what she titled her “Selvatical leave”. Selvatical is a pun she made out of “selva” which is the Spanish word for jungle and “Sabbatical”. She said that this was one of the best decisions of her life. For the next year, she used this time to travel to Boston, San Francisco, East China, Ecuador, Nepal, Tibet, India, Perú, Kenya and Tanzania. Reader, how do you take time to recharge?

Throughout Susana’s life, travel and understanding other’s cultures have always been important to her. To date, she has canoed numerous rivers and tributaries in the Venezuelan Amazonian rainforest. This means going downstream in a dugout-tree rustic boat. She camped along the rivers and ate whatever the indigenous guides were hunting from the jungle or catching from the river. Susana has also climbed the five highest Venezuelan mountains, including Pico Bolívar, which is the highest in her country. Added to that, she holds the title of having been the first Venezuelan woman to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa. Similarly, she climbed the highest mountain in Europe, Mt. Elbrus, which is part of Russia’s landscape. All told, Susana has climbed more than a two dozen mountains worldwide. To date, she has also visited thirty-six countries. When the pandemic travel hold is over, I expect to hear more countries added to that list. Reader, what does “understanding another person’s culture” mean to you?

One of the highlights of Susana’s journeys was a 1997 two-hour visit she had with Lama Rinchen Phunts. He is a world-renowned meditation master and Buddhist teacher. The two sat on the floor which was covered with carpets woven out of yak hair; the rugs were decorated with Tibetan designs. There, in the refugee camp on the outskirts of Kathmandu, the two discussed their views on religion and personal beliefs.

About a year into her selvatical, Susana’s brother, Gustavo Perez, called to ask for her help. He had been a finance vice minister for the Venezuelan government. He, along with Susana, and their team, would be helping to restructure the Andean community: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. This work became what would be the first client of a new innovative company – GCPC Analytica.

It was 1997, and Susana’s brother, his wife, Susana and several partners created GCPC Analytica, which was their own management consulting firm. At this time in history, their work was state of the art for businesses. It included a systematic approach with a focus on the organic life-breath of all the individuals in an organization. It wasn’t a top-down leadership analysis of how to increase profits. Instead, “everyone in the company is viewed as a whole”, Susana said.  For a company to succeed, the voices – the collective intelligence of all the workers – became critical. This approach gave companies a “clear vision of the future they wanted to achieve,” Susana explained. It went back to Susana’s insight years before – “chemistry of the people”. Reader, what difficult lesson did you learn, and then have the chance to apply?

A year later, Susana reconnected with a former classmate of her brothers – Arturo Sosa. At that time, he was the head of the Jesuits in Venezuela. This is a religious group in the Catholic Church. The Jesuits consist of priests who come from over one hundred nations; they provide leadership about evangelism, education and other interests to serve the people.

The two would occasionally run into each other during social events, but in 1998, Arturo invited Susana to deliver a conference about organizations and the design criteria to have the best structure to support their strategies. After the conference, he asked Susana to coach them in the implantation of their new strategy and reorganization. The end result would be to have a better impact on the people that they served, Susana explained.

Throughout the process of working with the Jesuits, Susana made another shift in her work. She recognized that she would need to train others to do the work of change throughout the organization. She would train them; they would do the implementation of the new processes. She also leaned into her desire to work with organizations that were independent of government involvement (NGOs), educational and religious institutions. She saw this as a way to have a direct impact on how to better the lives of others, particularly for refugees and immigrants. Now, Susana takes on typically no more than two clients a year because of the intensity and detailed attention needed for each. She has been living in Colorado for four years so she can be near family members. It also opened doors for her to devote more of her time in support of the Hispanic community in her area. As well, Susana is a mentor in the EforAll, an entrepreneur program. She also recently joined the board of Via Mobility Services. Via provides, among other things, transportation for seniors and those with disabilities.

Susana has evolved in her understanding of herself, her career and her purpose in serving others. She continues to flesh out what it means to have a deeper respect and knowledge of the “chemistry of the people”. It was a concept she began to comprehend years ago, and one that she strives to better understand through her teaching, consulting and life choices. Wherever she works or volunteers, she leaves a legacy that catalyzes hope and betterment for others. Reader, if you had to title your legacy to this world, what would it be?

I like what Gary Vaynerchuk says about legacy. Gary is a CEO, motivational speaker and author. He said, “please think about your legacy, because you are writing it every day.” As I listen and learn from Susana, I see how seriously she takes her decisions that have a lasting impact on those she serves. She wisely thinks through the consequences of options to impart so that others can succeed. She has already given the world so much, but I think her legacy is still being written by her graceful daily choices. Reader, what is the legacy that you are writing today?

Last month, you were introduced to Bryan Wade. You heard his story about being a foster child, homeless and his health and job struggles. Yet, despite all the challenges, Bryan continued to serve his community. He seeks justice through our education process. Diana said about that blog: “Amazing story and you ask such good and thoughtful questions.”

• Bryan shared with me a note from a friend. I won’t share all it if because it was private and beautifully written to Bryan. His friend did say about Bryan’s story: “This is extraordinarily powerful. I came almost to tears with pride. Thank you for sharing your story. You inspire me; as a black man I am proud of you.”
• Kim and Michelle both thought this was a “great read”. Kim added that it had the “makings of a book. It brought tears to my eyes.”
• Maria said, “Good blog. He finally reached his dream.”
• Hazel said, “What an inspirational fellow he is!  He’s had all the bad tidings thrown at him, including physical, cultural, economic and everything else, and yet he emerged the better person for all of it – amazing!  Thanks for writing about Bryan.”
• Susana said, “Your stories are so inspiring Debbie! I fully enjoyed Bryan’s. I wanted to know more … and was very happy to see the links about Keystone and his others projects. But it doesn’t stop there; with your questions you make us reflect and discern about our own lives. They are very deep inquiring questions.
• Jean said, “It is so uplifting to read about someone who is positive enough to keep striving to overcome undeserved hardships that come up in his life!!! I admire him so!”

Until next month, may peace be at your side,

Debbie Noel

We have several ways to interact with Debbie!

• Instagram: Find me with the handle @dropinwithdebbie or visit https://www.instagram.com/dropinwithdebbie/

• Facebook: Tag me with @DropinwithDebbie or visit https://www.facebook.com/DropInWithDebbie/  to like and follow!

• Email her at DroppingInWithDebbie@gmail.com

• Register with the site (very bottom of the page) to have your comments viewed online

• Send your letters to:

Debbie Noel
C/o Longmont Senior Center
910 Longs Peak Avenue
Longmont, Colorado 80501

 

One of Susana’s travels Trip to Roraima in Venezuela – documented in this article: https://www.goworldtravel.com/venezuela-travel-mt-roraima/