Susie Stein, founder of a Milwaukee-based boutique consulting firm called Strategies for Philanthropy LLC, has devoted three decades of her work life to charitable organizations in the nonprofit sector.
She has helped clients design and implement funding plans and secure millions in endowments. But her private life has been devoted to the arts – and travel.
A voracious reader, an accomplished classical pianist, a seasoned globetrotter, a former gallery owner and a published author, Stein has dipped her toes into just about every creative endeavor and cultural pursuit she could.
“I have about 1,500 books,” Stein said. “The main thing I like to do is write. I’m finishing my third novel.”
The novel, the third in a series she began writing in the late 1980s, is being penned under the working title “A Valentine to America: What happened to our country?”
She’s traveled abroad to 30 countries and lived in Paris and New York City, where for years she owned an art gallery before moving to Milwaukee. Though she grew up on the East Coast, Stein said she loves Milwaukee and everything Wisconsin has to offer – particularly its high-quality, low-cost cultural offerings and the scenic Apostle Islands in Bayfield, where she spends a few weeks each year in the summer or fall.
“I usually go to three performances a week for the symphony or a movie or the ballet or the Florentine opera,” she said. “It’s so easy here. It’s so high-quality; you don’t have to plan so far ahead. I think Milwaukee is so rich in those cultural offerings.”
