Rachelle Suissa is Breaking Barriers, Empowering Women to Rise and Lead in the Modern World
I had the pleasure of interviewing Rachelle Suissa. Rachelle received her Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from the Milano School for Management and Urban Policy in New York City in 2017. Prior to that, Ms. Suissa completed a Master of Arts degree in Political Science — American Government at Brooklyn College in 2010. She received her Bachelor of Arts in History and Women’s and Gender Studies from Pace University in New York City in 2008. She also currently sits on the Junior Advisory Board for the Leopold Schepp Scholarship Foundation Event Planning Committee. Rachelle founded Dare to Run, a nonprofit that trains women how to run for public office, in June of 2017.
Ms. Suissa founded Dare to Run, a 501 c 3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to train women how to run for public office in New York City. Dare to Run was the byproduct of her PDR for the Nonprofit Management Program at the Business School. She wrote a business plan for Dare to Run, had it incorporated shortly after graduating in 2017. Dare to Run will be launching the first cohort of the Women’s Leadership Training Program in 2019. Prior to founding Dare to Run, Ms. Suissa served on the Board of the Brooklyn-Queens Chapter National Organization, both as President (2006–2013) and as Vice President (2005–2007). Ms. Suissa has also volunteered with organizations including NARAL, Planned Parenthood, and the Young Women’s Leadership Network. Her current responsibilities include managing the day to day fundraising operations for START Treatment and Recovery centers, including social media campaigns, events, the 50th anniversary gala, and the grant writing process. In addition, Ms. Suissa oversees the activities of the board of Dare to Run, the recruitment of volunteer instructors for the training program, recruitment of participants to complete the training program, as well as monthly events, board meetings and social media campaigns.
Prior to her work with Dare to Run, Ms. Suissa was a professor at Brooklyn College in the political science department for the College NOW and STAR Programs. She devised her own team-based curriculum and taught Introduction to American Government and Introduction to Comparative Politics for 3 years. Simultaneously, she worked as the Program Manager for the Quality of Life Innovations Program for an educational nonprofit called Working in Support of Education in Midtown. The purpose of this program was for high school students to be able to build their research skills by writing a paper on a quality of life issue in their community. Ms. Suissa’s experience cuts across all sectors, including nonprofit, educational and government. She has worked for the Henry Street Settlement, ROADS Charter High School, and the NYC Department of Human Resources Administration.
Ms. Suissa currently resides in South Brooklyn where she has lived for the past 31 years.
Thank you so much for joining us!
What motivated you to launch your startup?
My mother was a single mother. I watched her go to Court every month in the 90s when I was growing up because my father refused to pay child support. She had to battle a legal system primarily run by male judges and therefore biased in one direction on the issue of familial support. So she never had enough money to support me because my father refused to pay what he owed for child support. And I suffered emotionally, psychologically and educationally as a result of this. I have always known women are not adequately represented at all levels of government, and that if they were, alot of the problems we have as a society would no longer exist.
What is it that excites you about what you’re building?
What excites me most is seeing a new group of women train and run for public office because we so badly need them in all sectors of society, they don’t even realize what an asset they are to the system.
What has been your biggest challenge when growing your startup?
Developing and securing partnerships in other states that may not be familiar with the Dare to Run Program or what we are trying to do.
What are your future plans for your startup?
We are hoping to expand into at least 14 states including the ones outlined in our strategic plan: https://www.daretorun.org/about. These are the states with the lowest levels of women currently serving in public office at the state level.
If you had to share, “words of wisdom,” with a Founder who’s about to start their own startup, what would they be?
Be prepared for challenges and adversity. Be prepared to fail. Be prepared for the first victory. Don’t hold your breath and expect the world to fall at your feet. Being a founder is exhausting, you have to work extremely hard to get what you want and in most cases you will only get some version of it, not exactly what you sought. Progress is incremental and inevitable.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
You can follow me on Linked in: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachellesuissa/
You can also Follow Dare to Run in the following places:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaretoRunInc/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daretorun2023
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dare-to-run/?viewAsMember=true
This was very insightful. Thank you so much for joining us!
