Sung Eun (Susan) Im spent 25+ years as a Footwear Merchant, Brand Builder and People leader across a variety of roles – Buying, Sales and Product Development before pivoting into Human Resources. Across her merchant roles, she was people focused and had a passion and curiosity about teams and leadership development. In 2021, she decided to make a career change and leveraged her business experience and network to transition into an HR Business Partner role at Caleres, Inc, a global footwear company. In Fall 2023, Susan started a newly created role as Senior Director of Associate Career Pathing, which focuses on career development and internal mobility for the organization. Prior to Caleres, she spent 16 years at Macy’s and was most recently the Vice President for Private Brand Shoes.
Susan’s broad leadership experiences in various organizational settings inspired her to become an executive coach to support leaders in transition. Transitions are hard and they impact not just the leader but everyone they interact with.
In 2018, Susan became a Certified Diversity Coach with the goal of helping emerging leaders unlock their potential and find their authentic leadership voice. As a first-generation immigrant, she is passionate about supporting the AAPI community, and serves as mentor and advisor to various organizations. “Be the person you needed when you were younger” is what she strives to be for the next generation, which includes her 2 daughters.
Susan was born in South Korea and grew up in Brooklyn, NY. She graduated from the University at Albany with a BS in Business Administration. She currently lives in South Orange, NJ, with her family.