Speaking + Workshops

ABOUT SUSAN
Susan Hazel Rich is an accomplished business owner, designer and illustrator. In 2014, she left a graphic design career, choosing her passion over the corporate ladder, to develop her own brand and create something she loves. With a career that has taken her from California to NYC, Susan has spoken to audiences large and small about creating a brand with a meaningful story, building a thriving business from the ground up and the truth about forging a non-traditional path.

AUDIENCE

  • Women
  • Entrepreneurs
  • Artists + Creatives
  • Emerging / Aspiring Business Owners

STYLE
Forging your own path can feel isolating. That’s why Susan is honest about the lessons she learned and the struggles she overcame. Susan shares practical advice from her own experience navigating societal expectations and personal doubts. Her grounded and realistic approach means she'll meet audiences where they are in their personal and professional journeys. Susan’s transparent storytelling inspires, energizes and validates creatives, entrepreneurs and anyone aspiring toward something new.

EXPERIENCE
Over 20 years of experience in: 

  • Building Branding on Stories, Not Products
  • Revolutionizing Retail and Display Design
  • Building and Growing a Successful Product-Based Business
  • Direct and Results-Oriented Business Consulting

CUSTOM
Susan will custom tailor a presentation to your audience’s exact needs. Reach out for more information.

TOPICS

Storytelling + Branding: Find Your People. Learn how Susan built a narrative experience around her brand and leveraged storytelling to do more than sell products. Learn how to stand apart from a sea of competitors through meaningful connections and relationship building. 

Retail Environments + Display Design: Make Your Space Work for You. Through interactive workshops or roundtable formats, Susan shares practical and proven tools, backed by consumer-behavior research, to let products shine at pop-up markets or in brick-and-mortar stores.

Building a Product-Based Business: Learn from Someone Who's Done the Work. Strategies and guidance to navigate the early years of building a product-based business. Susan unpacks the complex world of wholesale from establishing + maintaining buyer relationships to expanding your reach and generating leads that will last.

For more information on topics and workshops, please email Susan at info@shopHazelmade.com. Susan can tailor a presentation to your audience’s needs. Reach out for more information.

 

The Failure Cushion™

We’re told life should follow an upward trajectory. We should climb the ladder toward success, continuing up and up. But I’ve learned that life is more like a constant expansion, moving out and in around us, never following a clear path. When creating my brand, Hazelmade, I faced countless obstacles and setbacks forcing me to change course, reroute and embrace failure. More than 11 years later, I have a thriving brand that allows me to create work I’m passionate about. I want to share what I’ve learned with you: entrepreneurs, artists, young professionals and students emerging into the workforce. I’ll be upfront and open about the struggles you’ll face and honest about the challenges of carving out your space in the world. I’ll share what I wish someone told me when I began my own professional journey.

LENGTH :

  • 45 Minute Presentation
  • Optional 15 Minute Activity

PAST PRESENTATIONS :

  • Kent State University, School of Visual Communication Design, 2019-2025
  • Flourish Women in Finance, 2023
  • The Diamond Experience, University of Akron, 2024-2025

Interested in tailoring The Failure Cushion™ to your audience's needs? Reach out for more information.