This interview is only available on NaturAlley.com | By Sheldon Baker
Susan RoAne, known as “The Mingling Maven,” leads a double life as a bestselling author and a sought-after keynote speaker. She gives multi-generational audiences the required tools, techniques, and strategies they need to connect and communicate in today’s global business world. Her practical, informative, and very interactive presentations are known for what the San Francisco Chronicle calls her “dynamic sense of humor.”
Her groundbreaking best-seller, How to Work a Room is published in print, audio book, and digitally as an e-book. RoAne has also written The Secrets of Savvy Networking, What Do I Say Next?, How To Create Your Own Luck, and Face To Face: How To Reclaim The Personal Touch in A Digital World. Named as one of Forbes.com top 25 networking experts to follow, RoAne has helped set the tone for business meetings and conferences, where making contacts, having conversations, and creating connections count.
RoAne has been a guest lecturer at major universities and served as a keynote at several corporate events including Kraft Foods, Hershey Foods, Oracle User Groups, The U.S. Air Force, and many others. RoAne is a lifelong fan of the San Francisco Giants, and Golden State Warriors, as well as her hometown Cubs. She received her master’s degree from San Francisco State University and her bachelors from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana. RoAne says she is forever a Fighting Illini.
NaturAlley: Was it always your dream to be a published author?
Ms. RoAne: Even though I excelled at writing, especially letters that were laced with humor, I never thought about being an author. It was my late mother in law who said in front of family, “You write such wonderful letters…you ought to write a book.”
After San Francisco’s school district massive teacher layoff, I designed a career change workshop for teachers. I promoted it on a local radio show. The business editor of the late San Francisco Examiner heard the interview and called to ask if I could design a weekly local careers column. I said an unequivocal yes. I wrote the majority of the columns as well as inviting others to write a column in their area of expertise. The feature ran for three years until a new editor had his own agenda. During that time, I took a book publishing workshop where my friend and author Judith Briles, held up one of my columns and said, “Suz, you can really write. How To Work a Room should be a book. Here’s the name of my agent.” The rest is ‘herstory’.
NaturAlley: What do you attribute your success to?
Ms. RoAne: Being a teacher was amazing preparation for having a business. There are so many transferable skills: Creating lesson plans, dealing with many people including students, parents, and principals, refining communication skills and customizing for my different audiences. Meeting deadlines also serves me well as a speaker and author. I can’t imagine having to tell parents something came up and I didn’t get around to filling out your son’s report card.
NaturAlley: Being a best-selling author means you’ve sold a lot of books.
Ms. RoAne: I wrote books that people had expressed were about their issues not what I decided they should read. Sold over a million worldwide in 14 countries. And the pandemic pause has made all ls my books more essential than ever. We are rusty in our social settings.
I wrote a bestseller because it never occurred to me that it wouldn’t be. Thanks to Edie Smolak, my seventh-grade teacher, I knew how to write correctly and conversationally by talking to the reader. My editors always had a buy-in because they received a ready- to-publish book before the deadline. And I studied the book business, so I knew what had to be done. My books are like my kids, and I did anything and everything to support, promote and market them.
NaturAlley: Is working a room a healthy thing?
Ms. RoAne: Knowing how to work a room is helpful, healthy and a skill of the best leaders according to a former Harvard professor in Fortune magazine. Socializing is the basis for building relationships which have now been identified as the key to happiness according to a Harvard Happiness study. These days we need to take hints from others. Some will shake hands, others fist bump or acknowledge with a smile or two thumbs up. Our different greetings and preferences are a conversation starter.
NaturAlley: I guess talking about health is a good conversation starter.
Ms. RoAne: Yes. It’s a place to start because Covid is the global common bond and conversation starter.
NaturAlley: Is the presence of Covid and variants still affecting group gatherings?
Ms. RoAne: People are still testing positive after group events, so it pays to be cautious. I’m a Covid and RSV coward and say so.
NaturAlley: As a sought-after keynote speaker, what has been your favorite city to visit? And why?
Ms. RoAne: Let me say this another way, as a speaker I try to see the sites and highlights of each city. The fact that I always walk for exercise allows me to see what I might have otherwise missed. Because of my books, I’ve travelled and spoken in many cities that I adore. Speaking in the San Francisco Bay Area is a real treat. After a morning presentation in San Francisco, I was driving through the city’s North Beach area and there it was. A public place to park. So, I had to pull in, take some photos and go for a coffee at what is now my favorite North Beach café, El Greco. It was such fun.
NaturAlley: Hailing from Chicago, what was and still may be your favorite Chicago food?
Ms. RoAne: I am all an out deep-dish pizza fan. Gino’s East, of course. And the Vienna hot dog, never with ketchup. Chicago natives know exactly what I mean.
NaturAlley: What is your inner power?
Ms. RoAne: My inner power is my sense of humor, which is also an attitude. I rarely must wait an hour to find the core quip, punchline, or essence. Some might call it perspective. That is what will keep us alive for 5,000 years. It’s supported by my quest to learn, gain knowledge, awareness, and my commitment to connect and stay in touch with good people.
NaturAlley: Do you consider yourself a Super Ager?
Ms. RoAne: Having read the research reports on Super Agers (the Hundredaires), I’ve never thought of myself that way. But to answer your question, probably good genes thanks mom, dad, and ancestors. In addition, I have been doing twice weekly strength training in the form of aerobics and Zumba for almost 30 years. I walk 4-5 miles a day five to seven days a week, maybe only three miles some days. And I do things and go places. And will organize our events. I don’t drink, smoke, do drugs. But sadly, I love Lays Potato Chips. Can’t eat only one so I don’t buy them. And I adore crispy fries.
Meat eater, but only two ounces at a time. No spicey or saucey foods. I’ve been called a picky eater because of my observance of doctor’s recommendations. And I have the last laugh because now many of my pals can’t eat what I never did. Also, a simple diet. I’m a very bad cook. I follow ENT, doctor’s orders to observe the GERD diet to protect my vocal apparatus. I follow my internist’s orders of what not to eat to protect my tricky tummy. I know my numbers and demand to be told my blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate and more. And I make sure I know my doctors and that they know me.
Most important, my network is a lovely, kind, supportive group of people of good value, all with a great sense of humor.
