About Suzanne Reisman

"There are about a million things I want to be when I grow up," I wrote in a semi-autobiographical story when I was in fourth or fifth grade. "First of all, I want to be an author, second an advertiser, and third a baseball umpire."

By the time I mastered grammar and punctuation, I moved on to other professional aspirations. At the age of twelve, I resolved to become a district attorney in order to improve safety in poor neighborhoods. In my bat mitzvah speech, I asked God for a scholarship to nearby Northwestern University so that I could later attend a good law school.

Six years later, only slightly less naive, I headed to New York University instead. Attending college in New York presented me with a world wider than anything I had watched on L.A. Law. A government internship during my second year revealed an alternative path to public service work, and after graduating with a BA from NYU in 1997, I decided to obtain a Masters in Public Administration (MPA). While at Columbia University, I embarked upon a career in community development policy and finance. My efforts over the last ten years contributed to the creation of quality child care facilities for low income children.

Although I loved my work as a "do gooder," I realized that, after all those years, I missed writing. I took a sabbatical to explore freelance writing, contributing articles to Metro New York, City Limits Weekly, New York Family, and New York Nonprofit Press. Combining my love for strange roadside-type attractions, public transportation, and my adopted hometown, I also began working on a book about unusual things to see and do in New York City. My first book, Off the Beaten (Subway) Track: New York City's Best Unusual Attractions was released by Cumberland House Publications in July 2008.

Again, I faced a dilemma: I loved writing, but I also valued my public service work. I decided to do both on a part-time basis. Living in Manhattan with my husband offers me to opportunity to pursue a Masters in Fine Art in Creative Nonfiction at New School University while I work as a public policy and community development consultant and a freelance writer. Perhaps this is not as exciting as being an author, advertiser, and baseball umpire, but it is ultimately much more satisfying, especially the way baseball is operating these days…