More than 30 years have gone by since Suzanne (Jaffe) Levy first attended SuperCamp and she still talks about it all the time. She thought to herself many times over the years, “I’ve got to meet the woman who created SuperCamp”—so what a fun conversation when she and Bobbi DePorter connected recently!
It was 30 years ago that by chance Suzanne’s dad saw SuperCamp on CNN and was inspired to send her. She attended SuperCamp in 1986 as a camper and then served as a Team Leader in 1987 and 1988 working at four camps! A memory that stays with her is when a camper told her he had fallen in love. Suzanne looked around for what girl it might be and then he said, “I fell in love with myself.” That was a profound and life-changing experience for her and at that moment, Suzanne knew that she made a difference—she was helping to change kids’ lives.
Suzanne told us she still uses many of the skills she learned at SuperCamp. So, when her daughter Julia reached SuperCamp age, she was eager to send her. In fact, she has inspired many parents to send their kids over the years.
Suzanne was actually eager to go herself when her dad suggested it. In her junior year of high school, while it seemed her world looked fine from the outside, she was dealing with typical teen self-esteem issues. Her father and brother were both very successful and scholarly, and Suzanne learned at SuperCamp that she had a different kind of smart. She was extremely relational and emotionally intelligent and although she was in honors classes in school, the comparison to her family had her feeling inadequate. At SuperCamp, she found new ways to study that suited her visual learning style. She learned better study habits vs. procrastination. She even wrote about SuperCamp in her college essay, and her memory tools, speed reading, and ability to take visual notes helped her graduate with honors from one of the top schools in the country.
Additional skills she acquired in her teen years that have supported her throughout her schooling and career are strong listening skills, and Speaking with Good Purpose—being aware of and staying away from gossip. She realized the impact of negative gossip, and how prevalent it is, and gained the courage to not participate in it in high school, through her first jobs as a young adult, and to this day.
Everything at SuperCamp felt intentional—from its tenet of Everything is on Purpose to it’s Key of This is it! Suzanne said, “Looking back at who I was even as a young person, by nature I always believed that everything is possible. If it’s not happening, I’ll take action to make it happen.”
Suzanne is now founder and president of Bolder Leadership, Inc., and works with senior leaders of Fortune 500 companies, business owners, and mature start-ups to gain new perspectives and take bold actions to achieve outstanding results. When not focused on her business, Suzanne has volunteered to coach children in shelters, sponsors several African children to help them acquire an education, and works with conscious leaders to make a bigger impact on the world through business and contributions to the community. Her life is about personal growth, coaching and helping others. It was 30 years ago that by chance Suzanne’s dad learned of SuperCamp and it’s an inspiration that she continues the path giving back to others today.