Support our staff by donating at jfcspgh.org/annualappeal.
Susan Jablow has been the JFCS Grants Coordinator since 2013 working together with staff across our agencies and the foundation community to ensure projects and programs are funded.
Here at JFCS, she is a celebrity.
Who or what is your inspiration?
I find when I have a lot of things that need to get done, I sometimes don’t know where to start. I enjoy the practical suggestions offered by the writer Gretchen Rubin, who wrote “The Happiness Project.” When there is a task she dislikes, but which must get done, she schedules 15-minute blocks of time to make incremental progress. I’ve learned that, aside from when there’s a pressing deadline, it’s OK to just get a little bit done when the whole project feels overwhelming. Bit by bit, you get more done that you would have thought possible.
When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I have always wanted to be a writer, though I originally thought of myself as a writer of books (a goal I am still working toward). I feel incredibly fortunate that my whole professional life so far has been as a writer, including as a newspaper journalist, marketing writer, and grant proposal writer.
Who has had the biggest influence on your career path?
There is no one person who influenced my career choice, but in various jobs, I have benefited from guidance I received from coworkers with more experience than me. I especially look to the example of various women I have worked with to learn how to balance work and life responsibilities and how to think about what I hope to accomplish with my work.
If you could collaborate with anyone in history, who would it be and why?
I would have loved to have a conversation about writing with Harper Lee, who wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird.” I learned a few years ago that, even though her famous book is set in her home state of Alabama, she spent most of her adult life in New York City, and would have been there when I was in college in New York. It would have been so cool to meet her.
What is your superpower? Or what do you wish your superpower would be?
I can say a lot with a limited number of words. As a grant writer, I have to describe programs in text boxes that are measured not in words, but in character counts. That means that every letter, space, and punctuation mark counts. I’ve learned to pare things down to the essentials.
What is the most rewarding part of your job?
It’s incredibly meaningful to know that I help support the work of JFCS staff, which in turn literally changes lives for the better. Even though I don’t directly help clients through my job, I feel proud to know that my work is important to helping others.
What is the most challenging part of your job?
My work revolves around deadlines, and sometimes it is hard to keep track of all the moving pieces with multiple programs to support through a wide range of funding opportunities.
If you were given a one-minute ad slot during the Super Bowl, what message would you fill it with?
“You’re here for a reason.” We all question ourselves from time to time, and wonder if we are contributing what we should to the world. The bottom line is — even if you feel like you are not achieving your potential, you still have intrinsic value and are where you are supposed to be in the moment.
What would you like remembered about you?
Professionally, I want people to remember me as a writer whose work they enjoyed.