Meet the Author: Gwen Suesse

I’m Gwen Suesse, author of Womansong. I have lived the modern woman’s conundrums. Born in 1945, I was influenced by the rapid change and turbulence of my time. As is typical of women of my generation, my “’50’s girl outlook” was overrun by the attitudes of the ‘60’s women’s movement, a transition that set the stage for both great opportunities and decades of conflicted identity. Womansong’s essays are the natural outgrowth of my struggle to reconcile the patriarchal identity of my youth with my growing awareness that women are entitled to their own dreams and self-realization.

After acquiring a Bachelor’s degree in Music at Wagner College in suburban New York City, I earned a Master of Arts in Teaching from Harvard University. I spent several years teaching choral music, married and began my quest to find a way to balance family, professional, and personal goals, which is the central theme Womansong addresses. Along the way, I have taught fulltime, stayed home to care for my small children, worked for my husband in his consulting business, worked as a counselor in a college-planning organization, and managed a small office.

In the 1990’s, I worked for a career planning organization, where I first learned about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.® Fascinated by the positive implications of understanding one’s innate strengths and ways of taking in information and making decisions, I completed extensive training in the MBTI and subsequently started my own human resources consulting business. I also kept my interest in music alive by starting a children’s choir, working as Assistant Director for the nationally-known Syracuse Children’s Chorus.

Recently I was elected president of the Tryon Concert Association in Tryon, North Carolina, where I have made my home since moving from upstate New York eleven years ago.