Meet Suzanne Minarcine | Business Professor, Storyteller, Writer, & Coach

We had the good fortune of connecting with Suzanne Minarcine and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Suzanne, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As a business professor, I’m embarrassed to say that my flight school was a spontaneous decision with little forethought. I was going through a divorce, and my job as an executive with a managed care company was highly stressful. I was disillusioned with the business and concluded that “managed care” no longer cared about anything besides money. I was earning a six-figure salary, had what should have been a dream job, but I was struggling personally and professionally. What did I really want to do? I already had my convertible. Was this my midlife crisis? I’ve been a licensed pilot since I was 17, and one day I decided to go flying. I called the local flight school to schedule an aircraft, and the owner told me he was closing. I went over to see him and made an offer on the four aircraft. By the end of the week, I had a flight school. I never looked back, and I quickly grew the flight school to two locations with 129 aircraft. We trained hundreds of pilots, many now flying for commercial carriers. I like to say that I decided one major life change wasn’t enough.

My second business was a hospice. After I sold the flight schools, I finally got my coveted airline job. Unfortunately, a life vest exploded during water survival training, and I had to go out on medical leave. A friend called and urged me to write a business plan for a hospice. His exact words were, “We have to find something for you to do. If you sit home, you’ll get in trouble.” I started researching and saw the need for end-of-life care, especially in underserved communities. I didn’t know how I would be involved, but I wrote the business plan. Soon I was able to start flying again, but I kept thinking about the hospice. While on a layover in Dallas, I met my husband. He had retired after 32 years of flying for Delta and had come to Netjets. It was love at first sight. I was enjoying flying, but we rarely saw each other. I was a captain and he was a first officer, and we weren’t able to get our schedules to match. After months of random meet-ups on layovers, I knew I needed to do something. The hospice was on my mind, and I told my friend to start raising funds. We wrote the application for state licensure, and I retired from the airline.

Now, through The Minarcine Group, I coach aspiring entrepreneurs and people who want a career change. I combine my educational and practical experience to give my clients the best options and help them explore where they want to go and what they want to do. I also work with businesses looking for additional opportunities or struggling, in one way or another. I love helping people solve problems.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The pandemic changed my path yet again. I had been communicating through social media with Margaret South, and I saw she was starting a writing group that was perfect for my schedule. I had written a technical book for case managers and numerous scholarly articles, and I had contributed chapters to nine self-help books, but I wanted to write something fun. I now have two projects underway, a memoir and a novel. My memoir is “Flying by the Seat of My Pants.” I just received it back from the editor, and I’m madly working on the edits to start querying agents. My novel is called “Karma on the Tarmac,” and the first draft is about 80% complete. This started as a healing project, inspired by an incident when I was flying for the airline.

In my writing, I bring my quirky sense of humor and a lot of my experience. My memoir really gets into the lessons I’ve learned along the way because if there is a mistake to be made, I’ve made it. What I learned through writing my memoir is that my life has turned out great, and I wouldn’t change anything. If I had not made these mistakes, I wouldn’t have had the wonderful life that I’ve had and the family I have.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The first place we would go would be the Ocmulgee Indian Mounds. There’s so much history there and it’s a great place to walk. I would also take them over to Wesleyan College, where I teach business courses. Wesleyan College is the first degree-granting institution in the world for women and we have a beautiful arboretum that covers about 100 acres. We would eat at Olivers, where they have the most delicious salmon you’ve ever tasted. We would also walk around Tatnall Square Park and Mercer University. I would take them to Christ Church, an Episcopal church in downtown Macon, and the first church in Macon to have an organ. The church was founded in 1825 and is such a beautiful parish. We would go see a show at Theatre Macon and sit on our back deck and sip nice wines. Our home overlooks a small lake and it is the most peaceful place you can imagine. We would take a day to visit the Museum of Arts & Sciences.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My husband, Bob Minarcine, and my children, Andy Greenway, Jodi Rigby, and Michael Greenway, and of course my nine grandchildren. They’ve been my cheerleaders throughout all my careers.

Website: https://www.drsuzanneminarcine.com

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Image Credits
Cover photo, Jessica Whitley-Penndorf. Used with permission.

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