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Jennifer
Susman
Photo by
Carling
McManus.
Photo by
Carling McManus.
Photo by
The Oberports.
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Photo by
Carling McManus.
22
WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
MAGGIE MATSKO
Jennifer Susman, founding partner and
executive creative director of 84 Agency,
lives by this motto: if you can do good, you
must. This philosophy brought her back
home to the Mountain State after graduate
school to start an advertising agency
that services mostly small businesses
and nonprofits.
Originally from Lewisburg, WV,
Susman moved to California and enrolled
in San Francisco Art Institute’s Master of
Fine Arts (MFA) program. Through the
program, she learned about the power
of creative storytelling and compelling
imagery and how it can influence culture
and create change. When she graduated
in 2010, she decided to use what she had
learned to help shape new narratives for
West Virginians. “While I was away at
school, I was surrounded by people who
were dedicated to the arts and were
choosing to advocate on behalf of good
causes,” she says. “It was very inspiring
to me, and I knew I could do the most
good working in a place that needs cre-
ative problem solvers to tackle the unique
and complex challenges West Virginia
currently faces.”
Halfway through the master’s program,
Susman met Carling McManus, a Boston
native who was pursuing her MFA in film-
making. After graduation, they made the
cross-country move to Lewisburg together,
and in 2012, as partners in both busi-
ness and life, they founded 84 Agency, a
company driven by service to community.
Since inception, the agency has worked
alongside a host of organizations focused
on doing good in the Mountain State,
including Generation West Virginia,
West Virginia Child Advocacy Network
(WVCAN), Covenant House of West
Virginia, Fairness West Virginia, ACL of
West Virginia, TEAM for West Virginia
Children, Tamarack Foundation for the
Arts, West Virginia Center on Budget
and Policy, West Virginia Food & Farm
Coalition and the National Children’s
Alliance.
Since the agency’s inception, Susman
has been responsible for the develop-
ment and execution of several successful
communications strategies for legislative
campaigns on behalf of her clients, includ-
ing the passage of the Young Entrepreneurs
Reinvestment Act in 2016 and House Bill
3093 in 2017, which was the first mean-
ingful piece of broadband legislation in
many years. She also helped develop and
produce the Rise to Fairness campaign on
behalf of Fairness West Virginia.
“It is a privilege to wake up every day
and put myself in the way of good,” says
Susman. “In the last year, 84 Agency has
worked to strengthen the creative economy
statewide, attract and retain young talent,
fight hunger and homelessness, combat
child abuse and develop and launch a
web app that helps West Virginians more
easily contact their local lawmakers to
advocate for policy.”
The crowning jewel of her career,
though, is the work she has done on an
ad campaign that supports survivors of
child abuse. The campaign, which has
the potential to help create change and
fight the stigma that survivors often face
long after the physical violence is over,
will launch in 2019 across the nation
on behalf of WVCAN and the National
Children’s Alliance.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done on
this campaign because nearly 700,000
children experience abuse every year in
the United States,” says Susman. “84
Agency got an opportunity to produce
an awareness campaign that works to
dissolve shame, empower advocates and
survivors alike and, most importantly,
restore hope.”
As a proud West Virginian grateful
to have had the opportunity to come
home, Susman is honored to be part of
the change that is happening here. “It’s
a privilege to live in a place I love, work
with people I admire and dedicate
myself to creating positive change in my
community,” she says. “There is a lot of
good work being done here, and we are
humbled that so many organizations
entrust us to tell their stories of impact,
inspire their supporters and work hand
in hand with them to build a more
equitable future in West Virginia.”