Susan Fiorito, Ph.D., Dean, Florida State University Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship
This is a transcript from The Floridaville podcast. This transcript was created using artificial intelligence so it may not be an accurate account of what was recorded.
INTRO MUSIC
ROSANNA CATALANO 0:09
This is the Floridaville. Get
to know the people behind the Florida names you know. I'm your host Rosanna
Catalano. On today's episode we get to know Dr. Susan Fiorito. She's the Dean
of the newly created Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State
University, the first such college in the nation at a public university. She's
a university leader at FSU, who got her start in a high school classroom in
South Florida.
ROSANNA CATALANO 0:43
Our guest today is Dr. Susan Fiorito, the founding dean of the Jim
Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. Welcome to the
show. Dr. Fiorito, the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship just became an
official college at FSU. For those of our listeners, not in academia, can you
explain what that means?
DR. FIORITO 1:02
Yes And good morning. The College of Entrepreneurship is the only
college in the United States, this program is outside any college of business
or engineering. We are a separate entity. We started in the fall of 2017 as a
school, and just recently started a graduate program. And so we have become a
college, an entity unto ourselves, to be able to plan programs undergraduate
and graduate, for students who are interested in learning about
entrepreneurship.
ROSANNA CATALANO 1:38
What makes this different than a business school?
DR. FIORITO 1:41
A lot of people ask me that, and that's very common question. And
basically, business schools are very specialized. Your last two years of
university degree you're going to specialize in accounting, or in marketing, or
in management. In entrepreneurship, we believe in a generalist degree. So our
students have accounting, and marketing, and management. They have personal
finance, they have law. So the last two years of the students’ program in our
College of Entrepreneurship, they are learning about all of the areas, all the
business functional areas. So we really consider ourselves a generalist degree,
because our students need to talk as an entrepreneur,r as a business person, to
all functional areas in business.
ROSANNA CATALANO 2:34
I've heard you quoted as saying entrepreneurship is a way of
thinking. A belief in yourself and your abilities to see
a problem and solve it. How do you teach that to students?
DR. FIORITO 2:43
That is a good question. And we often we have as our faculty,
entrepreneur. Some of the entrepreneurs still own their own businesses. And
this is a way of opening your eyes, opening opportunities to solving problems.
We like students, we go through a lot of design thinking activities. So they
will try to visualize, or just think themselves what problems do they see in
their community, in their lives, and their family, in the world? And how can
they solve that? Most people think it's, oh, that's someone else's problem. But
we all can't say that. We have to be able to learn how to solve problems in our
daily life, in our community, in our world. And so we teach students how to be
able to approach problems and how to solve them through a lot of exercises.
ROSANNA CATALANO 3:47
I've had the wonderful opportunity of taking an entrepreneurship
course you offered to faculty and staff at FSU several years ago. Was it
important to you that this course be offered to others in the university?
DR. FIORITO 3:59
FSU became an entrepreneurial university with President Barron.
And it was one of the big 10 ideas he helped develop while he was president. In
order to be an entrepreneurial university, we are not only have to have a
degree in entrepreneurship, but we think everybody needs to be educated, what
is entrepreneurship? And how can we incorporate that maybe in our classes or
even the way we think or behave for staff and faculty? I think it's very
important for them to be able to think about how to solve problems and not
worried about failure. Because we in our program, believe that failure is the
best opportunity to learn.
ROSANNA CATALANO 4:41
During that course, you told us the story of how you became an
entrepreneur yourself, in the clothing industry. Can you share that story with
our listeners?
DR. FIORITO 4:50
Yes, so I, when I graduated Florida State University in 1973, I
taught high school home economics in Hialeah Miami Lakes. I was dating the
chemistry professor in Hialeah Miami Lakes and he had a business - a leather
manufacturing business in the Miami flea market. So I've sewn my clothes my
whole life and he needed someone to help him sew wallets so I went down to the
Miami flea market and sold wallets, leather wallets. And that's how I was able
to see him. We eventually decided to get married and moved to Atlanta. And we
had about 25 companies around the country that sold our leather goods. But a
leather company in itself doesn't make that much money. So we decided to sell
jeans and tops and I started to design suede vests. And very typical of
entrepreneurs, I had a full time job teaching high school in Georgia in Atlanta
and then at night manage the stores.
DR. FIORITO 5:58
So that's how we started.
ROSANNA CATALANO You meet a
lot of successful alumni who have started their businesses and turned them into
empires. Do you see any common characteristics that make these people
successful?
DR. FIORITO 6:10
The common characteristics of successful entrepreneurs is that
they work really hard. And they think about their ideas 24 seven, and, and they
don't give up. And if they fail, if something doesn't work, they go back to the
drawing board and figure out how to make it work. To go unde,r over, around roadblocks. They are
persistent. They are creative, and they take risks with what they believe they
can do. They try everything, they want to know about everything involved with
what they're doing.
ROSANNA CATALANO 6:53
Your life obviously took some twists and turns to get you to this
point. Can you tell us where you grew up and what your whole life was like
growing?
DR. FIORITO 7:00
So I grew up in Miami, Florida. I'm one of seven children. I'm the
second oldest. And I always wanted to be the oldest. Because my older sister
always got the bike first, and the roller skates first and got to do got to
drive first tonight. I asked my dad once, when am I going to ever be able to
get things first? And he said, Susan, you won't you. So I said, Oh darn.
ROSANNA CATALANO:
(laughter) Sounds like a conversation we’ve had with our youngest!
DR. FIORITO:
(laughter) My older sister told me years later, she said, I
wish you would have been the oldest because I hated to do things first. And you
know, being from a large family, you learn cooperation. We had to babysit the
younger children. So we learned how to take responsibility from a very early
age, and we worked together and I think those characteristics and values have
followed me. Seven children that have
different personalities. So when you're in any kind of business or educational
situation, you're going to have a lot of different personalities. How do you work
with them? So I think my upbringing and my parents were totally wonderful and
both of them have passed now. But all of us seven children still get together
for family, reunions, love each other, and care about each other.
ROSANNA CATALANO 8:29
That's wonderful. How would you describe yourself as a child?
DR. FIORITO 8:34
I was hard working. Going through high school I always babysat but
I made clothes for my younger brothers and sisters. I made my dad's shirts, we
didn't have very much money. And so if I wanted clothing, that was cute. I had
to make it myself. In fact, one of the women I babysat for when I was in high
school, probably ninth grade was throwing out her drapes from her living room
and there was this gorgeous green color fabric. And I said, Do you mind if I
take that? We couldn't always afford fabrics. So I made a great shirt out of
these old drapes.
DR. FIORITO 9:15
(laughter) Gone with the Wind.
ROSANNA CATALANO 9:22
(laughter) Wasn’t that the
Sound of Music as well?
DR. FIORITO 9:26
(laughter) They were all my role models.
DR. FIORITO 9:30
And so I would I work for JC Penney in the fabric department and
they let me make all of the clothes for the models in the fabric department.
Then I got to keep them. So I yeah, I've just love to sew and create and try to
figure out ways on how I can do that without much money.
ROSANNA CATALANO 9:50
Are you wearing any of your creations today?
DR. FIORITO 9:53
No. So since I got my PhD when I started into the doctoral
program, that's when I had to stop sewing. Now even pay an alteration is to
have my slacks. Because for researchers if you're in higher education, your
focus has to be on publications if you want to get tenure and be promoted, and
I realized that. I did when my children
were growing up, I made their Halloween costumes and I did make quite a few
Barbie dresses for my daughter's Barbies. So I have done that. And now that I
have a grandchild, I'll get back into some of those skills again.
ROSANNA CATALANO 10:31
Well, I must say you look very festive today and I like your
Rudolph necklace. We may hear jingle bells in the background. That's what it
is. But you know, you look very festive.
It’s great.
ROSANNA CATALANO 10:42
What was your favorite thing to do outside of school growing up?
DR. FIORITO 10:45
It was really sewing. I love to sew and we couldn't travel when we
were young again with seven children. We had one car. And it was helping
others. I love to work. I actually loved to work at JC Penney and meet people
there and help people. And I just really enjoyed that.
ROSANNA CATALANO 11:08
If I were to ask 10 year old Susan Fiorito, what she wanted to be
when she grew up, what would she say?
DR. FIORITO 11:14
Probably a fashion designer, because I loved to sew, and I
actually I took classes at Miami Dade Community College. I got my a degree from
there first before coming to Florida State. I was in the fashion design
program. And I remember my eight o'clock class, my first class in fashion
design was illustration. And honestly, I couldn't draw at all. And the
professor said to me, Susan, you need to change your major, because this is
terrible. Let me show you what it should be like. So I realized at that point,
I was not going to be a fashion designer. I could still make my own clothes but
I had to go into something else and I'd decided to take some classes in
accounting and merchandising. That was okay. I didn't love it. What I really
loved was teaching. So I decided to go into Home Economics education. And I
loved teaching high school. I taught high school for five years and loved
teaching students how to sew, how to cook, how to take care of their family.
ROSANNA CATALANO 12:26
Would you have been interested in pursuing a degree in
entrepreneurship back when you were in college?
DR. FIORITO 12:31
Probably because I'm sure I could have thought about making
clothes for someone and doing it online or whatever it might be. So yeah, I
still I love that. And I love crafts. I've loved Martha Stewart. Who was
everything crafty.
ROSANNA CATALANO 12:46
I watched her shows.
DR. FIORITO 12:50
I mean, it was great. I could not do it as as good as she could
but her cool calm nature and presentation of ideas and how to do things. I love
that. So I would be a Martha Stewart copycat probably.
ROSANNA CATALANO 13:06
Did you pursue graduate studies right after getting your
bachelor's degree or did you enter the workforce?
DR. FIORITO 13:11
So after my bachelors, I taught high school so I had to have a
job. My high school Home Economics teacher called me the semester I was going
to graduate from Florida State asked me if I wanted a job. And I said, Yes. She
said, there's a job at Hialeah Miami Lakes if you come down and interview for
it. They had seven home economics teachers at that time and in the early 70s,
because every boy and girl had to have one year of home economics before they
graduated high school. Those were the glory days. I interviewed. I got the job. It was my only interview. I
didn't even have to look at job announcements or anything. So it was very good.
We moved to Atlanta. I got the first job I interviewed for teaching high school
there. So I really loved it. While I was
at Hialeah Miami Lakes I decided I wanted a master's degree. So I took courses
at night. I also taught adults at night how to sew, which was fun. And I also
mended all the football teams’ practice uniforms. I have a football trophy,
actually. That the whole football team gave me because I mended all of their
uniforms.
ROSANNA CATALANO 14:26
That's so great. (laughter)
ROSANNA CATALANO 14:30
So when did you decide to pursue a PhD?
DR. FIORITO 14:33
We eventually, in Atlanta had four stores, and clothing stores. We
would close out like County Seat in the mall would go out of business, because
what we started was to alter jeans on the spot for our customers. This happened
one day when I was working in the store on a Saturday. A woman came in with three little boys. And
so the jeans were all too long for her and she goes you know sewing through all
these layers of denim, it's so hard. And
I said, if you don't mind, I can sew them for you. I can have all of the jeans
for you on the spot right now for no charge on the leather machine I have in
the back of the shop where I saw the wallets and the purses and things. But you
won't be able to return them. They'll be altered for you. I'll make them long
enough, so if they shrink. She said fabulous. So we decided to start that
service. And we would alter everybody's jeans on the spot for them for no
charge. And no one could compete with us. Riches was in our first mall, and I mean they
charged a huge amount. If one of our customers they bought a pair of jeans and
the zipper broke, I would replace it. I would sew on buttons for them. And so
our vendors who we bought jeans from loved us and they would want us of course
to be successful. When we had four stores. My hands were blue during back to
school from all of the indigo dye. I was sewing all night long jeans and would
bring it back the next day to our other stores. Being in a family business is
very difficult. first husband and I there were several reasons why the marriage
didn't last. When that happened. I decided to leave Atlanta, and I was offered
a job at FIU to teach merchandising. I had a master's degree only. And they
were starting a merchandising program. They needed someone who had had small
business experience and the merchandising program then at FIU it was only a
junior and senior program. There was someone reviewing the program, Catherine
Greenwood from Oklahoma State, and she interviewed me as with all the other
faculty and she said, you'll need a PhD to continue to teach at higher ed. And I said, Okay, and she said, I can offer
you an assistantship, pay your tuition. And also I'm starting a new center to
work with small businesses, and I'd like you to be my assistant. So I said,
Okay,
(laughter)
DR. FIORITO 17:04
so I was 31. And I sold everything I had and I drove out to
Oklahoma and started in the PhD program at Oklahoma State.
ROSANNA CATALANO 17:16
Wow. Tell us how your career unfolded after you completed your
doctorate.
DR. FIORITO 17:21
So when I had started at Oklahoma State, I was traveling to
various merchandise marts. Catherine Greenwood and I were presenting sessions
on how small businesses could stay in business. I was in a little apartment
complex right on the edge of Oklahoma State that had faculty members that live
there, and the faculty member from the College of Business lived next door, and
she wanted to hook up every single graduate student professor with the men in
the College of Business who weren't married. So we often had parties and they
were all the single men from the College of Business who came over to our
apartment because my roommate and I could both cook. And so, I met someone
there and one of the professors who was single and six months later we were
married.
ROSANNA CATALANO 18:15
Wow that was a whirlwind. (laughter)
DR. FIORITO 18:16
Yeah, so as someone who did not want to get married because I just
been through kind of a difficult divorce but you know when you meet the right
person. That was 37 years ago. We're still married and have two wonderful
children. And, but he had just accepted a job in Iowa. So I was just in my
first year of my PhD program, he moved to Iowa. So our first year of marriage,
he was in Iowa and I was in Oklahoma. So we'd see each other once a month, and
that would let each of us focus on our responsibilities me getting finished. By
the time I was finished my coursework at Oklahoma State, there was a job
opening in Iowa. I applied for it and I got it. So we were at the University of
Iowa for eight years before coming to Florida State.
ROSANNA CATALANO 19:05
Wonderful.
COMMERCIAL BREAK 19:08
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ROSANNA CATALANO 19:27
Higher education can be a bit of a mystery to those not working in
it. I know you served as president of the Faculty Senate for a time. Can you
explain to our listeners what that means and the differences between tenure
track and non-tenure track positions at a large research university?
DR. FIORITO 19:43
I love service. You know that's really been part of my life and
being on committees. It's not typical that faculty members, and I was hired at
FSU and a tenure track line, which means that I had recently responsibilities.
I was promoted from assistant, to associate, and then full. Mainly because of
research but also teaching. I'd won some several teaching awards. But I loved
helping others and to do that with service to be on committees. And I would be
on a department committee and then maybe a college committee and I would
volunteer. And because there are so few women that were tenure track with the
PhD, you had to serve on a lot of committees in order to have diversity. So I
would just volunteer, and I wanted to be on the curriculum committee that
helped design and approve a curriculum all over campus. I started going to
those meetings and they said, Would you like to be chair? So I said, Sure.
Yeah. And so for 16 years, I was chair of the university Curriculum Committee.
That's people from all over campus and in the College of Human science, they
needed a representative on the Faculty Senate. And I said, I'll do it. I love
to do service work. And the Faculty Senate is made up of 100 faculty only
tenure track from across the university. All colleges are represented. I was on
there and was very involved with several other university committees and was
nominated to be part of the Steering Committee for the Faculty Senate. There's
only seven people there. They're, they're voted on by the whole hundred people
in Faculty Senate. I don't know who nominated me and I was on this small group
that met with the President once a week, and we had meetings and then
eventually I was asked to be the, I was nominated to be the vice chair and then
voted on to be the president of the Faculty Senate. So for two years, and the
faculty senate president is on the Board of Trustees. So it was just a
tremendous opportunity.
ROSANNA CATALANO 22:01
What are some of the lessons you learned leading the faculty
senate at FSU?
DR. FIORITO 22:06
Some of the valuable things I learned and appreciate is that each
college is so different. They're so unique. Florida State is very much
decentralized. Although the Faculty Senate is a central organization, each
college, each Dean, each department, has a lot of autonomy. Dean's control
their budgets. They request money, of course from the provost, but they have a
lot of ability to make decisions about where they believe their college should
be going. So the faculty senate really helped me appreciate the differences in
the different colleges. How many undergraduate programs they had, how many
graduate programs, what is the most important thing to them. In the humanities,
it's writing books. It's not publishing in top tier journals. So each college
looks at their discipline, and follows what is needed in their area to succeed. what
the professionals need to do, and how they need to, to educate the students in
their majors.
ROSANNA CATALANO 23:17
You've pursued a number of pathss and even started your own
business. All of these activities involve an element of risk. And you've
touched on this before. How do you talk yourself into taking a risk and making
a leap?
DR. FIORITO 23:28
You know, it's easy to take a risk with what you believe that you
can do. Now, starting the college, several people will say, Oh my gosh, I can't
believe you're doing this. There's not another one out there. I really believe
that, I don't make decisions in a vacuum. I have a fabulous team. I have been
able to work with people who are sharing, and caring, and giving and are
willing to help make decisions and see things that aren't there yet. I love to
work with people and that's probably being from a family of seven children. We
just work together. And I believe we've made a lot of mistakes. But I admit it,
I say, okay, this, this was the wrong thing. We don't need to teach this class
anymore. Ask several people. Yes, let's do a class in this area. Okay, that
sounds good. We ask the experts and we move forward. Maybe that's not right. So
then we, we start again. Okay, so what do we need? We're entrepreneurial within
Florida State, which is a big corporation. And they have rules every student
has to graduate with 120 credit hours. So we have to figure out how we can be
creative and innovative within that structure, and that's what entrepreneurs do.
ROSANNA CATALANO 25:04
when I consult with business owners, they always tell me that they
would not have been able to pursue their dream if it wasn't for having people
in their life that support them and cheer them on. Who are your biggest
supporters and cheerleaders?
DR. FIORITO 25:16
Clearly my husband. He, you know, there's a lot of things that I
need to go to. My job is fairly demanding. And he is always supportive, you
know, makes me laugh. People sometimes don't believe that Jack has a sense of
humor because he's very deadpan, but he's one of the funniest guys I know, and
is always supportive, will just let me pursue what areas I want to, to do, what
things I want to do and what I feel is necessary. And we're such, I think, a
good team in raising our children, continuing on with our careers. I couldn't
have done it without him.
ROSANNA CATALANO 26:01
Getting back to your current work at the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship,
what plans do you have on the horizon for the college?
DR. FIORITO 26:09
So in the gift agreement that we signed in December of 2015, it
indicated that the school at that time needed to have five undergraduate
degrees and to have at least 500 students by 2023. So we've already overcome
the 500 students. We're about 750 students right now. The school was supposed
to start by August of 2018. I started a year earlier, but we have until 2023. I
have three undergraduate majors. We're working on the fourth with STEM
undergraduate major, and I feel very strongly even though it did not say
anything in the gift agreement that we need to build graduate programs. We
cannot be an institution at Florida State University, a research one university
and not have graduate programs. So people were kind of shocked about that
because it wasn't in the gift agreement. But I feel strongly that if people
have undergraduate degrees and let's say, classics and they decide they want to
open a business, how can they do that? So I feel that having entrepreneurship
master's degrees, and then eventually a PhD, will, again help to educate all
levels and interesst. And then also executive education. We would, I would love
to do that. So I think graduate degrees, I'm looking forward to developing
those and partnering with the different colleges across campus. Executive Ed, because there are people who
have graduated who want maybe a certificate in entrepreneurship, want to learn
some things about starting a business. We're also teaching high school summer
camps. So I think it's our purpose and our goal to be able to teach all levels.
Anyone interested in entrepreneurship a minor, a major, certificate.
ROSANNA CATALANO 28:12
We like to end our show with a little bit of fun by asking all our
guests the same seven questions. What would people be surprised to know about
you?
DR. FIORITO 28:22
Probably that
DR. FIORITO 28:26
I like to knit?
ROSANNA CATALANO 28:30
(laughter) I wasn't expecting that answer with that long pause
DR. FIORITO 28:35
(laughter) I don't know. Most people would probably not picture me
knitting at night
ROSANNA CATALANO 28:43
(laughter) all these high powered meetings and you knit. I love
it.
ROSANNA CATALANO 28:47
When you have guests in town, where is your favorite place to take
them?
DR. FIORITO 28:51
We love to take them to Wakulla Springs. You know, it's so much
fun to see people on that little cruise ship as we're going through and looking
at alligators and birds, you know, it's just so Florida. It's just a beautiful
place to relax and bring visitors.
ROSANNA CATALANO 29:14
What is the name of a book you recently read that you could not
put down or the name of a show you enjoyed binge watching.
DR. FIORITO 29:22
I love The Crown.
DR. FIORITO 29:24
I do binge watch that. I had to not watch it until my daughter
came from New York for a visit so we, we watched it. And I really think I had a
previous life where I was some kind of royal somewhere. I love those big
dresses. And so I really think I must have worn those in a previous life. So I
love the Royals and all that historical stuff.
ROSANNA CATALANO 29:48
I do too I do too I'm guilty. Among your close family and friends,
what are you best known for?
DR. FIORITO 29:58
Um, I think being the mediator. I don't like people angry with
each other. And I really try to help people to resolve problems and I'm, I'm
very easygoing. People see me as someone who will fit in to most things and
we'll go along with what they want to do.
ROSANNA CATALANO 30:25
If you have a nickname, who gave it to you?
DR. FIORITO 30:28
My mother used to call me Susie. And now you know, even some
people that I'm introduced to they'll, they'll say Susie to me, and I'll look
at them like, are you? (laughter)
DR. FIORITO 30:42
That's that's not your that's not a nickname that you could give
me.
ROSANNA CATALANO:
Only your mom.
SUSAN FIORITO:
Only my mom.
ROSANNA CATALANO 30:49
If you knew you could not fail, what would you attempt?
DR. FIORITO 30:54
I would love to play a musical instrument. I just admire people so
much who could who can play instruments.
And as a as a child again, we didn't have very much money. That's one of
the things that we weren't able to do. And none of us in my family were able to
take music lessons or even take music in school because you had to pay an extra
fee for a musical instrument and I would love to be able to do that. I love
music.
ROSANNA CATALANO 31:25
You know, you can just take lessons if you want.
DR FIORITO
(laugther) yeah, In my free time.
ROSANNA CATALANO 31:34
I just started cello lessons after a 30 year hiatus.
DR FIORITO
I love it
ROSANNA CATALANO
I put my cello down. I'm suffering now in my spare time, but it’s
getting done.
SUSAN FIORITO
Good.
ROSANNA CATALANO
What are the top three things you love about living in Florida?
DR. FIORITO 31:42
Um, wearing flip flops. I love wearing flip flops. I love the
beach. Growing up in Miami, just being
able to go to the beach and listen to the ocean. I absolutely love that. And I
love seeing the sun. We lived in Scotland for a year, my husband and I took a
sabbatical. And I had no idea there were parts of this world that didn't see
the sun for months at a time.
DR. FIORITO 32:17
It was a sad
DR. FIORITO 32:21
when it was so grey all the time. So I love the sunshine.
ROSANNA CATALANO 32:26
Dr. Fiorito, it's been an absolute pleasure having you here today.
DR. FIORITO 32:29
Thank you so, so much. I've enjoyed it.
OUTRO MUSIC
ROSANNA CATALANO 32:39
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