Hey folks! I’m Susanna Mennicke, the newest addition to the creative team at Fast Horse. But really, we’re all one big team here. Just shy of three weeks in, and I’m super impressed with the collaborative spirit here. If you follow these Peepshow posts on the reg, you’ve seen that everyone here is a creative thinker and ready to jump in on any project. It’s a great energy, and I’m so happy to be part of it.

But enough about work. This is supposed to be about me. Like several of my fellow Ponies, my journey here was a winding one. Or, let’s say it was a “well-rounded” one. At different points in the last ten years since graduating from college, I might have ended up as a museum curator, an art history professor, a voiceover artist, or a professional soprano. Instead, I became a shopgirl, an English teacher in Korea, an arts non-profit administrator, a semi-professional soprano, and finally, a designer—a career I had never seen myself in or even gave a single thought to until the last five years, but feels like my destiny now. I was an art history major and love studying others’ work, but it’s so satisfying now to be making my own creative contributions. Design feeds my cerebral curiosity while also feeding my art-lover’s soul.

So, now I’m at Fast Horse, my second agency job. It’s a complete 180 from my first agency in terms of work style and culture, but I’m excited and ready to adapt to and learn from the changes.

A few other passions and life priorities.

On top of having a career that I’m passionate about, I dedicate a lot of time to performing music (where that semi-professional soprano credit comes in). Rehearsing and performing with my choir, The Singers, is a challenge and a big commitment and is also one of the most natural, easy things I do. There’s nothing quite like it. Rehearsal is simultaneously routine and new every time. Concerts are communal and cathartic. I often think that in another life, I’m a full-time choir member. (That’s in a life where that is a readily available career option and not a hobby.)

I’m the oldest of three sisters. After years of ganging up on each other in all possible combinations, we’re now best friends. No big deal.

This North Woodsman and I are getting married in January. Here we are, celebrating our brand new engagement at Gooseberry Falls.

My cat is very sweet and the first pet I’ve ever had. When I first adopted her, I named her Eartha Kitty because she has a raspy purr. But I quickly decided she wasn’t enough of a vamp to pull it off and named her Panda instead. A guileless name for this lovable dim bulb.

And finally, I make crossword puzzles sometimes. Here’s one if you like puzzles too! Note: I saw Russell Stover Jack-O-Lantern candies in the store yesterday, so I’m not the only one rushing the Halloween season.