five in five with suzanne silva, director of operations

Our director of operations Suzanne Silva is something of a fortune teller—she's always talking about the work we’ll be doing in a week, a month, even six months. And she does it all with a flair for optimism that makes it feel easy.

We sat down with Suzanne to learn more about her penchant for positivity, both at the agency and on the baseball field as a supporter of her children, in the latest installment of the Five in Five,* where we get to know our Interrupters a little better.

My dad was an amazing pitcher, and he coached me as I played softball from around age four all the way through high school. We were really good, winning all-star tournaments then state championships. I think my biggest learning through all that was that nothing will ever be handed to you in life. You have to work hard and earn it. My dad used to always tell me if you want to play in those important positions, you have to show the community why you deserve to be there. It taught me a lot about life, so with my boys, it’s been important to let the sport pass along those lessons to them, too.

Some of that optimism and positive encouragement is to counter part of what I experienced growing up. I remember as a kid spending Christmas Eve in the gym practicing pitching. We never pumped the breaks and rarely celebrated the little things. Now that I’m a parent, I’m very determined to create an environment where we recognize our wins along the way. I still remember a tournament in Sylvania where one of the umpires said I was the most positive mom he’d ever met in his career, and I was really proud of that.

I love to see amazing people and athletes and their growth. I see that growth in all my colleagues, and it makes me feel good and proud, almost like a mom to everybody here. We constantly put our best foot forward and try to be bigger and better today than we were yesterday. And that is driven by both my upbringing and the leadership we have at Interrupt.

I'm overseeing all the projects under our roof, making sure things get done on time and on budget and as smoothly as possible. As an agency we have to be able to pivot, and a big part of that is working to be proactive rather than reactive. So I’m one of the people whose job it is to think about what’s going to happen 10 days from now.

I don’t think I ever understood how sanding a piece of furniture could release stress and tension and be so relaxing. Seeing things I find on Facebook Marketplace or at estate sales go from drab to amazing is so fun and rewarding. We've (my husband and I) flipped over 10 items, and the majority have sold within 24–48 hours of posting. Could be the excellent work put into it, or maybe I'm underpricing myself. [Laughs] I think I'll consider it the excellent work!

*Five in Five is where we catch up with an Interrupter to ask five questions in five minutes. It may have taken us (way) longer than five minutes to have this conversation. But it shouldn’t take you longer than five minutes to read it, so we think it still counts.