This month we’re profiling Susan Trabucco—communications consultant, BWNA newsletter contributor, BWNA advertiser, and much more. Susan lives down the street from Wilshire Park with her retired husband and enjoys cooking, travel, learning Spanish, as well as walking and bicycling Northeast neighborhoods. Most of all, she loves spending time with her family, which includes her 27-year-old son, who lives nearby in the Kenton neighborhood.
After graduating high school in Astoria, Susan earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lewis & Clark College in Portland. To raise her then two-year-old around her family, Susan moved back to Astoria in 1992. There she continued to be self-employed in the public relations and marketing arena. In 2006, she launched the Coast River Business Journal, a regional business and real estate journal, which she grew and then sold in 2011. The journal continues today under the ownership of East Oregonian Publishing, publisher of the Daily Astorian newspaper.
In addition to writing regularly for the BWNA newsletter the past several years, Susan’s volunteer involvement in the community also includes redesigning the Concordia Neighborhood Association’s newspaper, Concordia News, to its present format and developing an operations model that allows for three part-time, paid staff persons to produce the monthly publication.
Susan’s client work includes communications strategy, project management and creative direction for print and web media, message development, copywriting and editing, and turn-key publishing projects. (For more information about her business or to contact Susan personally, see her ad on page 4.)
How long have you lived in the neighborhood, and what’s your favorite part of living in the neighborhood?
In late 2012, while living in Astoria, my husband and I purchased our house in Beaumont-Wilshire. We spent part of our time here while we did some remodeling. By mid-2013, we moved from Astoria to be here full time. There are so MANY favorite parts of our neighborhood! We love the flat streets for walking and biking, the friendliness of the people, and the foliage that changes with the seasons, making every walk unique. It’s also terrific to live in proximity to Beaumont Village, the Alberta arts district, and the 42nd Avenue urban district.
What’s your favorite neighborhood store or restaurant and why?
Beaumont Hardware and Beaumont Market are regular stops for us. We enjoy summer evenings noshing at Blackbird Wineshop & Atomic Cheese, and SouthFork has a great hamburger, wonderfully gooey mac ‘n cheese, dynamite Brussels sprouts, and a relaxing ambiance.
What do you enjoy about volunteering with BWNA? What do you get out of participating?
I lived many years in Astoria and enjoyed being very active in that community. I find volunteering is a way to be connected, to get to know my neighbors, and to feel I’m part of making the community a better place.
Thank you for your service, Susan!