Suna Kneisley Interview: "Kitty Hotel" Second Act Success Story
Diana Landau | October 08, 2024
This Month I Used to be Somebody has gone to the CATS! Meet Suna Kneisley, who consistently combines her passions with success throughout her life. A former Marketing Exec in high tech for Intuit and Oracle, she began investing in real estate and helping her colleagues do the same. That has led to a 20+-year successful career in investing, as Founder of Freedom Investments. Along the way, Suna also fell in love with cats. After volunteering for a local non-profit cat adoption organization, Suna eventually became Executive Director in her spare time. In 2019 Suna bought Pat's Boarding Place for Cats, which she has improved on and expanded and they now have kitty condos for up to 78 cats. (Are we seeing a pattern here?)
Suna grew up in the Midwest, first in Indiana and then in Illinois to a U.S. military father and Korean mother. As a kid she was very social, up for any sport. She knew her father hated his career as a CPA. Her mother, who possessed keen business intuition, turned her focus to a very busy local Mr. Donut Shop. She kept after the owner until he sold it to her family. Working at the donut shop growing up, doing all kinds of shifts, instilled a sense of entrepreneurship in Suna.
She attended Northwestern and UC Berkeley and after considering a career in medicine, she was hired by Intuit and never looked back. After personally investing in real estate, she began pooling resources with her fellow employees and began managing various investments. "I don't like doing things alone. I love to share what's exciting and what opportunities there are with friends and family."
She started volunteering for Cats About Town Society (CATS) in 2008 and realized they had organizational problems. Suna took them on with mounting debt and turned CATS around. They now care for and adopt out 400-600 cats per year. When Pat's Boarding Place became available in 2019, Suna pounced on the opportunity. In addition to running her real estate investing firm, volunteering and managing the kitty hotel, Suna loves to travel, just about every month. She also loves to play pickleball. "The path is interesting. It kinda unfolds!"
Suna's (unretirement) tips:
• "Find what it is that gives you joy. Use your skillset. Or do something completely different!"
• "Keep moving! Movement for your body. Pickleball is the great equalizer--most everyone can play."
• "It can also be really helpful to just sit and be still for your mind. Meditate. It will help you find what you want to do."
• "Be open. Be clear about how you want to feel--the kind of person you want to be at your best. What does that look like? What does that smell like? What does that taste like? Be clear about that and then be open to the opportunity, whatever it is. Then follow, say YES to things."
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog
Patrick Mulvaney Interview: It Really Is A Wonderful Life!
Diana Landau | June 29, 2021
.png)
In the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” George Bailey learns that his family business, Bailey Bros. Building and Loan, is so much more than a business. It's about the bonds they created to hold the community together. Patrick Mulvaney, award-winning chef, leader of the Farm-to Fork movement in Northern California and a local hero for his non-profit programs, was inspired by this sentiment and named his restaurant Mulvaney’s B&L. Patrick and his wife Bobbin have a successful restaurant business--- and have taken it to a whole new level of community service.
Although Patrick calls his restaurant a “shanty Irish joint” it is elevated dining using the freshest ingredients. Patrick and Bobbin believe the world can be a better place through their restaurant. They have cultivated relationships with local farmers, developed programs like Great Plates to feed hungry people in need and during the pandemic they were a vital part of a region-wide program, Family Meal Sacramento, making meals for over 100,000 families. California Governor Gavin Newsom observed the program and pledged to take it statewide during the pandemic.
Patrick’s grandparents on both sides immigrated to the U.S from Ireland. He grew up in New York with a lawyer father and an English professor mother. Then he found his true calling by working in kitchens and the rest is history! He had the opportunity to apprentice with a chef in Ireland. “I was fired 6 times in 9 months!” he says.
Patrick worked at Rockaway Beach in Queens for a time, and it was there he learned the powerful connectivity between a restaurant and the community. “It’s a place to help the community become stronger, to become engaged, and it’s also a pathway to making your voice heard to decision makers.” Patrick then worked his way up the ladder at Metropolis in NYC under Leslie Revsin. During grad school at UC Davis, he saw a 12-month growing season and winemaking and knew he wanted to open his own restaurant in Sacramento, which he did in 2006.
“It gets back to what I learned in Ireland—where does your food come from? Do you know the farmers? Sacramento felt like home.” Now he is one of the lead innovators of the Farm-to-Fork movement, bringing farmers and chefs together in a big way. “It’s given something to Sacramento that the people can be proud of.”
Patrick and Bobbin also started the I Got Your Back Project, a mental health program and education for restaurant employees, after there were several suicides in the local restaurant community. “Restaurant work can be fast-paced, stressful and nocturnal. It requires thick skin and talent, not a college degree.” The program is now helping people every day.
What’s next? Patrick is still doing what he loves to do, wishing maybe he had a little more quiet time to cook. But he’s also taking the time to think about and reflect on what he wants to accomplish in his third act, whether it’s more involvement in advocacy, mental health, food insecurity or all three. We know he will keep making the world a better place!
Patrick’s (Un) Retirement Wisdom for Second Acts:
“Keep your eyes open and be enthusiastic in whatever it is you're doing, knowing that it might not be a direct path to doing (exactly) what you want to do. But know the experience will eventually help you in some way. When you meet someone, you never know what it is they can teach you, or how they might lift you up!”
Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the “I Used to Be Somebody” weekly blog.
