Ep. 55: Sophie Sureau on being your own superhero
The bombing in Bali turned Sophie Sureau into her own superhero. Burned and buried under rubble, she regained consciousness when she felt people walking on her back to escape the carnage. Her choice was to burn to death or get up. She turned herself into the Incredible Hulk to survive, fleeing the scene with skin hanging from her body.
The attack on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 and wounded 300. Sophie spent 35 days in the hospital, underwent skin grafts, over a dozen surgeries plus two years of various therapies to recover and regain full use of her body.
She talks about how to choose to live as a warrior and a survivor, not a victim.
Tips & Takeaways:
You can be a worrier or a warrior. It’s your choice.
Put the oxygen mask on yourself first, then you can help others breathe.
Move your lemonade stand. When you want something badly enough, adjust your strategy.
BIO:
As Associate Vice-President for National Development, Sureau provides strategic leadership for programs designed to increase philanthropic support for Case Western Reserve University campus-wide and for specialty programs such as scholarship and student success.
Sureau manages a team of development officers and oversees leadership engagement efforts for the President and other University leaders.
A native of Quebec, Canada, Sureau is a survivor of the October 12, 2002, Bali nightclub bombings by a terrorist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, sustaining burns over nearly 25% of her body.
Prior to joining Case Western Reserve University in 2013, she was Executive Director at the Susan G. Komen Northeast Ohio Affiliate for eight years where she led daily operations of all affiliate programs, services and activities; provided guidance to volunteers and committees; and acted as a liaison with the affiliate Board and its committees, grantees, donor organizations, and the public.
Before Komen, Sureau started the non-profit organization Helping Hands for Burn Survivors in Montreal and was named a “Hero” in June 2005 by Time magazine’s Canadian edition for her work mentoring burn patients. Sureau was recognized with the 2009 Pillar Award for Community Service as Northeast Ohio Executive Director of the Year.
The Komen Northeast Ohio affiliate also received the mention of Affiliate of the Year in 2009 among the 122 affiliates in the Komen network.
Throughout her career, Sureau coaches executives, faculty, executives, staff and volunteers. She graduated from the Weatherhead School of Management at CWRU with certificates in Executive Coaching and Women in Leadership.
In 2016, she graduated from the Women Staff Leadership Institute of the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women. She’s also certified by the Hay Group at KornFerry in Emotional and Social Competency Inventory. Sureau can speak on a variety of topics such as career development, career and life transition, resilience, motivating teams, nonprofit management, intentional change, diversity and inclusion, and leadership development.
She is a visiting professor for the Master of Nonprofit organizations at CWRU and is involved with Diversity and Inclusion strategic plan and efforts at the CWRU School of Medicine.
She is a partner at Cleveland Social Venture Partners and offers pro-bono coaching to non-profit executives associated with Business Volunteers Unlimited. Sureau holds a Bachelor degree in International Marketing from l’École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) Montreal.
Prior to starting Helping Hands for Burn Survivors, she was a senior account executive for IPSOS-ASI, an advertising research firm, and was a regional sales and promotion manager for HSBC Bank Brazil in Sao Paulo.
She lives in Bainbridge, OH with her husband Jeff and their two daughters.