About Susan

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So, you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

— Steve Jobs

The Why Behind the Work

I'm Susan Hearn, Founder of Kenekts, and I've spent my career helping people see what's possible and take action to get there, whether that's teens stepping into their dream schools or professionals building their next chapter.

My portfolio of work can be found by clicking here.

But this journey began long before I started coaching others. Below is the story of how I found my own F.R.E.E.D.O.M., which is my framework for transformation: Finding Passion. Realizing Goals. Eliminating Fear. Embracing Change. Designing Pathways. Opening Minds. Manifesting Abundance.

Finding Passion & Realizing Goals

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My work is rooted in helping clients uncover what drives them and build strategies to achieve their goals through data-informed storytelling and multimodal communication. My aim is to ensure they feel truly seen, heard, and positioned for success.

Driven by a passion for strategic insights, audience engagement, and brand strategy, I help businesses and individuals amplify their impact and create meaningful results.

It's in my DNA. My father, Albert Leon Hearn, rose from a regional beer salesman to an executive of Marketing for Schlitz Brewery in the 1970s and '80s, a time when breaking into executive leadership required vision, grit, and undeniable results.

He pioneered groundbreaking campaigns that blended music and brand storytelling in unprecedented ways, turning cultural moments into powerful marketing that moved markets and shaped consumer behavior.

Collage featuring Schlitz beer and malt liquor branding, including labels and logos. Images show Michael Jordan at a summer league in 1985, musicians Teddy Pendergrass, Kool & the Gang, The Commodores, and The Four Tops. Advertisements include slogans "When you're out of Schlitz, you're out of beer" and "Don't say beer, say bull."

He collaborated with icons like The Commodores, Teddy Pendergrass, The Temptations, Kool & the Gang, and Average White Band, and even sponsored events featuring a young Michael Jordan. One of his most iconic creations is the Schlitz Malt Liquor Bull crashing through the wall, a revolutionary concept that became a cultural touchstone.

But here's the complicated truth: My father was navigating one of the biggest paradoxes of corporate success. The product he was marketing had unintended consequences in the communities he cared about most. He understood the tension between business objectives and social impact, and that shaped how I think about strategy, ethics, and the responsibility that comes with influence.

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But here's where my father's brilliance came in (and trust me, this man was playing 3D chess while others were playing checkers). He understood that business success and community investment weren't separate goals they were connected.

He redirected marketing dollars into sponsorships, partnerships, and initiatives that created real opportunities, supporting education, leadership programs, and community organizations.

Was it a perfect solution? No. But as one of the few executives in the room with decision-making power, he was determined to leverage his influence to create systemic impact.

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Meanwhile, Dad’s hard work provided me with opportunities that most kids who looked like me didn’t have. When I was in fifth grade at Stonegate Elementary in San Jose, California, I was one of a few students selected for the Mentally Gifted Minors (MGM) program. We were invited to explore a new tool most people had never even seen yet: a Commodore PET computer, tucked in the school library.

I didn't know it then, but that glowing screen was the start of something. I was drawn to it, not because I knew what to do, but because I could feel it was mine to learn. That moment of being chosen, of being trusted with emerging technology before it was mainstream, planted a seed.

I didn't have the words yet, but I knew I was already building something.

Eliminating Fear

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Fast forward to my career launch in 1992, working in Marketing at BET Networks, and over 30 years later, I've continued serving as a consultant, contributing to initiatives that aligned with my passion for audience engagement and strategic impact.

In the early 2000s, I stepped into a role that would teach me something crucial about how business really works: sometimes the biggest opportunities are hiding in plain sight, and nobody knows how to unlock them.

Through Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network, I spent three years solving a $200 billion market access problem that Fortune 500 companies didn't know how to fix. They had the budgets. They had the desire to expand. But they didn't have the infrastructure to connect with high-performing agencies and media outlets that could help them reach untapped markets.

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This work carried forward my father's ethos: business success and community impact aren't separate goals. They're connected. And when you build the right infrastructure, everybody wins.

That early work in creating partnership ecosystems? It became the foundation for everything I do now - coordinating complex stakeholder networks, implementing AI-powered systems, and helping leaders navigate technology they don't yet understand.

I created systematic frameworks for partnership development, connecting companies like L'Oreal USA, Mercedes-Benz USA, Colgate-Palmolive, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, and Macy's East with opportunities they'd been missing.

The result? A 12% revenue increase for participating members and replicable partnership frameworks that other industries could adapt.

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Armed with deep expertise in consumer behavior analysis and cultural trends, I transitioned into brand and communications strategy, focusing on urban and youth markets.

In this next chapter, I led efforts to develop data-driven branding strategies for major athletic and gaming brands, using audience insights and predictive modeling to shape meaningful connections with high-value consumer segments and drive measurable engagement.

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It was a time of analyzing youth market trends and aligning corporate strategies with emerging digital platforms and social technologies, using behavioral data and audience segmentation to ensure messaging drove engagement and conversion across urban markets.

Embracing Change

This became the perfect stepping stone, bridging my expertise in audience strategy and media with the untapped potential of predictive analytics and tech innovation.

These elements empowered me to push boundaries and craft data-driven digital experiences that deliver measurable impact and drive business results.

This experience laid the foundation for my next chapter as I ventured into entrepreneurship and tech. I carried with me the same drive for strategic, data-informed storytelling, but now with a focus on leveraging analytics, automation, and AI to solve problems in the digital age.

In the early 2000s -'Before Facebook' (B.F.) - I was an early adopter of digital content as a strategic marketing tool, navigating uncharted territory in online engagement and consumer behavior.

Partnering with a former Oracle executive out of Silicon Valley, I became one of the few founders positioned at the forefront of the emerging e-commerce and social media revolution, leveraging data insights and platform analytics to build digital strategies before the playbook even existed.

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By the time Facebook and Instagram launched, I had already introduced these platforms and their strategic potential to businesses in media and entertainment—helping them understand audience targeting, engagement metrics, and platform behavior before most brands even had a social strategy.

I had a front-row seat to Facebook's rise and witnessed how algorithmic content distribution forever changed digital marketing, reshaping consumer behavior, brand reach, and data-driven decision-making in ways that created entirely new opportunities for business growth.

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This new era ushered in a shift towards Social-Emotional Branding™, where data-informed storytelling combines behavioral insights with emotional resonance to drive engagement and loyalty.

Brands began using audience analytics and sentiment tracking to connect with consumers on a deeper level, crafting narratives that leverage both emotional triggers and cognitive patterns to create measurable, lasting impact.

Designing Pathways

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I've gone on to work with some of my generation's biggest brands, movements, and visionary entrepreneurs. By blending strategic analytics with creative execution, I design pathways that meet clients where they are - using data insights and predictive modeling - and challenge them to see where they can go, turning vision into measurable outcomes.

Opening Minds

My approach leverages data-driven insights and scenario planning to reveal opportunities others miss, helping clients move beyond assumptions and adopt innovative, evidence-based solutions. It's about using analytics to spark strategic thinking and accelerate measurable growth.

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It's about more than just shaping today's leaders; it's about equipping individuals and organizations at every stage with data-driven marketing strategies, actionable insights, and the confidence to thrive in a rapidly evolving, tech-driven landscape.

Whether you're leading a team, building a business, pivoting careers, or exploring new opportunities, my goal is to help you leverage analytics, predictive marketing, and strategic foresight to unlock growth and drive measurable impact.

Manifesting Abundance

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I believe the manifestation of abundance isn't just about financial success - it's about striking a balance between measurable results and meaningful impact without compromising authenticity.

I use my expertise in data analytics, strategic storytelling, and predictive marketing to craft strategies that drive action and deliver results that resonate on both a business and human level.

By focusing on sustainable growth, data-driven engagement, measurable impact, and strategic well-being, I'm committed to guiding those I work with - directly or indirectly - toward achieving business outcomes that create lasting value in both their professional and personal lives.

In other words, I focus on F.R.E.E.D.O.M.