ML - Michigan Avenue

2014 - Issue 7 - November

Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!

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photography by peter hoffman The Good Life The web's mosT visible grandmoTher, SuSan "Honey" Good, Takes her advice-giving game To The nexT level. by lisa skolnik The word "grandmother" summons visions of a duly mature gal, complete with an affectionate epithet such as "nana," "ya-ya," or "bubbe," depending on your heritage. She may be sharp, active, stylish, and even still working, but she's winding down rather than gearing up. Susan Good, who qualifes as a bubbe 20 times over, is having none of that. In November 2012, the 60-something Good launched grammagood.com, a labor-of- love blog flled with Ann Landers – quality advice and colorful posts on life, family, love, food, culture, travel, style, movies, and anything else that catches her fancy. And for her second anniversary on October 29, she's aiming big. "My analytics show I'm a resource to women of every age, so I'm relaunching as Honey Good (honeygood.com), tripling the site's size with more contributors, and monetizing," she explains. (The nickname "Honey" comes courtesy of her grandchildren.) In her gig as a blogger extraordinaire, Good tweets, pins, and posts; interprets Google analytics; and develops content strategy to great effect. The site boasts more than 15,000 unique global viewers; 115,000 organic Facebook likes at press time and growing by 1,000 a week; and a spot on Grand magazine's 2013 and 2014 top-10 list of websites for grand- parents. Plus, Good has her own weekly column on the prestigious The Huffngton Post. Like Carine Roitfeld, the former French Vogue editor-in- chief who famously quipped in The Daily Beast that becoming a grandmother "doesn't mean that you have gray hair… retire, and stay home cooking cakes for your grand- children," the chic and youthful Good has a quip about her newfound multimedia MO and voice: "With 20 grandchil- dren and a life full of adversity and accomplishments, I have a lot to say. And I want to say it every way I can." Good's pluck and perception comes from a life that's been colorful by any measure. She was born and raised in Kankakee, married to her college sweetheart at 20, uprooted from Chicago to Honolulu at 36, and widowed at 45. She returned to Chicago at 46 to marry local real-estate kingpin Sheldon (Shelly) Good after a long-distance fx-up and whirlwind romance. Now she presides over a vibrant, far- fung, at times famboyant, and expanding blended family. Through it all, she's survived a devastating car accident, a family suicide, cancer (twice), the always-cataclysmic tra- vails of myriad children and grandchildren—and more. But her newfound success makes it all seem even more extraor- dinary. "Who would have ever thought my musings would lead to all this," she marvels. But for now, what "all this" means is under wraps; Good isn't spilling the beans on her imminent business plan to make honeygood.com a moneymaker. Not that she has to monetize, mind you. "Sheldon is proud of me, but wants me to spend my time with him instead of writing all the time," she admits. "But I can't stop now. I feel like I've discovered the secret to life, and it's about fnding what you love to do." honeygood.com MA INSIGHT Good reads: "Gift from the Sea, Anne Morrow Lindbergh's 1955 classic on inspiration, refection, life, aging, and relationships. It's a small book with a big impact on your soul." eat here now: "Go to Shanghai Terrace at The Peninsula for romance; Gibsons Bar & Steakhouse because they make you feel like family; and Gene & Georgetti because it's a fascinating microcosm of Chicago politics." now hear this: "I love to listen to anything by Sting, The Beatles, and especially Eminem. He's a poet. To do what he does, you have to be a mental and musical genius." what i'm wearinG: "A red string knotted seven times on my left wrist, closest to my heart, to guard and protect me. It's a tradition taken from the Kabbalah, and I have my strings blessed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem." Susan Good has leveraged blogging, tweeting, pinning, and web analytics to share her wisdom on her popular site, honeygood.com. 78  michiganavemag.com PEOPLE Second Act

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