Many things may come to mind when enjoying a great beer, but not usually accounting. This, however, is precisely how Suzanne Lawless ended up at Alaskan Brewing Co.
"I was never all that fond of beer until I tasted my first Alaskan Pale Ale," Suzanne recalled. "I was intrigued, checked on job openings and when the bookkeeper position became available, I jumped on the opportunity." That was over six years ago and Suzanne has made quite the impression on the accounting department.
"She’s really good at what she does. You could say Suzanne is the Mistress of excise tax reporting," says Alaskan Brewing CFO Ann Metcalfe. According to her colleagues and office mates Jessie and Eleanor, Suzanne is also a "Master of Sudoku" and "Queen of Dirty Jokes."* Who knew?
Maybe it started with her free and peace-loving childhood spent in San Francisco during the sixties? "My Mom used to take me in my stroller to peace marches during the Summer of Love," Suzanne reminisced, "and I spent my kindergarten year at the commune-like Shire School." Her family relocated to Alaska in 1971 when her dad got a job working for the State of Alaska (aka "the Man”"). Thousands of miles from Haight and Ashbury, Suzanne now finds her zen in Sudoku and Alaskan Raspberry Wheat.
Suzanne is the proud mom of two boys, Joshua and Zachary. "My favorite memory of being in Juneau was watching my kids, when they were little, running around barefoot in the sun." Also close to her heart is her dog, Kody (short for Kodiak), who often joins her for long walks on the beach.
Suzanne loves all wildlife, especially dolphins, but could be considered more of a shark herself – a pool shark, that is. She’s a member of the Juneau women’s pool league, but also enjoys hiking, camping, boating, fishing and wishes she could squeeze in more time for yoga and scrapbooking.
* Suzanne says she has to give some credit to her boyfriend Randy who is the source of most of the jokes shared in her department, but don’t be surprised to hear "So a guy walks into a bar . . ." the next time you visit the accounting office. |
