MAUREEN Sullivan is an author, publisher and editor, and the president of Maureen Sullivan Communications.  Her books include E-SPEAK, Boomerangers, and GEN-SPEAK, career management titles published by Harcourt and Thomson.  

Her articles on electronic job search and older workers have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Fortune and USA Today, and her articles on style in Coastal Living magazine.
Sullivan’s early career included teaching and advertising at BBDO and Ogilvy & Mather.
In 2008 she embarked on a new career in children’s literature.  With illustrator Alison Josephs, she has been awarded gold medals for their picture books Ankle Soup and Custard and Mustard. 
Sullivan is currently collaborating with jazz legend Bob Dorough of Schoolhouse Rock fame on a Dixieland tune about Coney Island.

Born in Brooklyn, Sullivan has lived in Manhasset and on the North Fork of Long Island for the past 35 years. Sullivan is a graduate of Marymount Manhattan College with a degree in communications and is the mother of four and the grandmother of eight. 
Her firstborn, Tara, of the Food Network and Cooking Channel, was an Irish Voice Influential Woman honoree last year.

Sullivan’s mother, Mary O’Loughlin, was born in Corofin, Co. Clare.  Her father, John Naughten, was a native of Athlone, Co. Roscommon.  
Their love of Ireland was big love and the music, history and lore of Ireland were integral to the upbringing of their children.

“Visits to Corofin and the 14th century O’Loughlin cottage on Lake Atedaun as well as the Naughten cottage on the Hill of Berries in Athlone were unforgettable,” Sullivan recalls.
She adds that the Irish mantra “it could have been worse” has served her well since it was carved into her schoolgirl brain in the 1950s.  It has been her shillelagh of sorts across the potholes, mountains and molehills of life ever since.
 

Return to Influential Women 2011