Advisory Council Spotlight: Meet Susan M. Apgood, EVP, Client Relations & Founder at News Generation and WWPR 2022-2023 Advisory Council Member
Talk about your background and what inspired you to start up your media relations company, News Generation? For as long as I can remember I wanted to start my own company. When I was 27 and just out of business school, I had a client suggest to me that I start my own business—and that is how News Generation was born! I ran the company for 22 years and I sold it in April 2020.
What sets News Generation apart? What sets News Generation apart as a company is our attention to detail. We were so buttoned-up on all of the details of every project and in constant communication with clients and of course the most important thing: delivering results.
What is a typical day for you? How do you manage work-life balance? A typical day for me definitely starts off with exercise. I love yoga and I love working out and getting going in the morning. In terms of my day, I work at 4media during the day but I also teach [at the Kogod School of Business]l at American University. I teach Intro to Business as well as Women in Organizational Leadership.
Learn more about Susan personally from her video on WWPR's Instagram.
I also do a little bit of coaching for women who own businesses [with Her Corner]. I love working with entrepreneurial women so I do that as well. As a side gig, my brother and I build houses in New Jersey so I’m the CFO of that company and he does all the work and I do all of the budgeting and all of the details behind that. I also have three boys that are currently in tenth grade and then I have two in eighth grade that are twins so there’s a lot of running around after school between scouts and sports and band and generally just taking care of them.
If you could do a Ted Talk on any subject, what would it be? If I could do a TED talk about any subject it would be about women in the workplace. Women are victims of what we call the “double bind” where we’re either “too nice” and don’t get taken seriously or we are too aggressive and we’re seen as “bitches.” So I’m working really hard with my students, with myself, and my colleagues on how to strike that proper balance where you’re not sort of walked all over and at the same time you’re not always seen as the feisty one in every conversation. It’s a tough balance and I feel the more advanced I get in my career, the more I’m into these double-bind situations so I would love to do more research on that and tell women in the workforce how to get around that and to make the absolute best of every single situation.
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