In this Business Blast podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Susie Reynolds‑Reese, the violence‑prevention coordinator at CHI St. Vincent Arkansas and founder/executive director of the nonprofit Suicide Prevention Allies. Susie shares how a series of early‑life traumas—including the loss of her father and surviving a flood—shaped her resilience and motivated her mission to prevent suicide. She emphasizes that effective suicide‑prevention work requires emotional connection and heartfelt public speaking, not just data and statistics. Her business advice centers on keeping a clear, evolving goal and aligning strategy with personal strengths. When reflecting on younger‑self advice, she humorously mentions investing in Apple stock but stresses perseverance. Susie describes happiness as a mindset cultivated by appreciating small daily moments. She highlights the Enneagram—a personality‑type system—as a tool that deepened her self‑awareness and informed her prevention work. Her favorite quote, a JFK line about using time as a tool, underscores her belief in purposeful living. Finally, she provides her online handles (Southern Fried Asian) and website for listeners to connect.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with the support you need to finish your book. Best part is, after you finish your book, they take care of the entire publishing and marketing process 100% for you. So if you want to become a successful author, make sure to check out authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Susie Reynolds-Reese with us. She is the violence prevention coordinator with CHI St. Vincent Arkansas. She is also founder and executive director of Suicide Prevention Allies, which is a nonprofit that formed from community grassroots efforts geared at preventing suicide. So welcome to the show.
Thank you. I'm so happy to be here.
Of course. And we're grateful to have you here. You're doing very important work. So we thank you for that. And let's dive into the first one, Susie. So the first one I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
So I looked through the questions and I, that one kind of caught me for a second because there's so many things that I would like to say. And so then I thought about it and I thought, you know, honestly, I've had a lot of difficult early life experiences and I can't really choose one thing that would stand out. But if you look at my early life versus where I am now, I think just learning from those hardships, overcoming them, and finding resilience has been very helpful for me. I lost my father at a young age. I was in a flood when I was like 6 months old. I just, I went through a lot of traumatic things. And had I focused only on those awful experiences, I may not have been able to harness them in a positive way. So I think we experience hardships and life is definitely not all roses all the time, but what we gain from that, the knowledge, the resilience, the coping skills, that is how we can really channel it into something powerful and into something positive.
And what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
So I do suicide prevention. I'm more in the prevention realm, and I definitely do a lot of public speaking. And I think that the most valuable thing for me has been to do it full-heartedly. I think a lot of people in my industry really look at data and statistics, and it's definitely a tool that we need to keep in our toolbox. However, we use a lot of intent and we lose a lot of ability to really reach people. It's through being emotionally connected, being able to say that these are important issues. This may be the information as to why, but this is also a human issue and this is why you as an individual should care about these things.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
I think for me it was keeping that goal in mind. And it very early on when I started getting into this, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to achieve this, this, and this. And as you get into it, those things change. So strategy is very important and it has to align with you as an individual and what your capabilities and your strengths are, but never lose side of that goal and always extend that goal a little bit further out when you start reaching, reaching them because you need to continue to move forward.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Oh, so much. Invest in all of the stock when it comes to Apple and all of these things. I think I would say, I would say a lot and I probably wouldn't listen, honestly. So I think for me it's, it's continue to do what you're gonna do because I'm gonna do it no matter what.
I feel that. No, totally. So kind of going a little bit down a different path, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
I love that because I think a lot of times we look at happiness as a thing that we can achieve. It's really, to me, it's a state of mind, and you're not going to be able to reside in that state forever, but It's all in what you look for throughout the day. So beautiful sunrises, beautiful butterflies, things like that. Those small things create that mentality of being happy. And that's really what happiness is to me.
And what is the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
So I think I was 18 and I found this book. It was called the Enneagram, and it's about personality types. And essentially there's 9 main personality types. And then you have wings which create the dynamic of thousands of different types of people. And for me, that was really interesting. It aligned a lot with what I'm doing now in suicide prevention, trying to understand the complexity of the human condition. But I also learned a lot about myself. And it really helped me to be introspective and say, these are, these are the good qualities I have when I'm at my best. But these are the bad qualities I have when I'm not being a great human being. How do I take those and make them stronger and not as awful as they are? But also, you know, we're We're complicated and no one is perfect. And there's nothing wrong with not always being an amazing person all the time.
Yeah, well, it would be kind of wild to be amazing all the time, right? It would.
An IQ 100 robot. That's the only way.
Yeah, exactly. Which in the future may come to—
It may happen, yeah.
Put me on the list. And then the next one I have for you is, what is your favorite quote and why?
Oh, uh, that's difficult. So, um, I should have had this one. I like the JFK quote that we must use time as a tool and not as a couch. And I think that's the most important thing because we don't get time back. And every minute that you're not doing something that you love, that you're not learning, that you're not improving, is a wasted moment. And as human beings, we should look at it as a finite thing and put as much value and purpose into every moment.
I love that. Thank you so much for coming on. The last one I have for you before we let you go is where can our audience find and/or connect with you online?
So I'm on everything. My handle is Southern Fried Asian and you can find me on Instagram and Facebook, but my website is Susie Reese with a C, Awesome.
Thanks again for jumping on.
Thank you so much.
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