Wade
Spees
The Post and Courier
Shari
Stauch, executive editor of Pool and Billiard magazine, at
Player's Place.
Meet Shari
Residence:
Summerville.
Family:
Husband, Jeff; daughter, Megan, 22: son Jake, 18.
Age: 46.
Job:
President, Shark Marketing Co.; executive editor, Pool &
Billiard Magazine; author of three books on pool.
Hobbies: Pool
was a hobby, writing was a hobby. ... I guess reading,
gardening and movies would be the hobbies left, but if I say
it too loud, they might end up as jobs, too!
Q: You're a
former professional pool player and a member of the Women's
Professional Billiard Association Hall of Fame. What's the
secret behind your success?
A: My
parents. They taught us we could do anything or be anything if
we set our minds to it. We believed them!
Q: Why did you
start playing pool?
A: We owned a
home table. I didn't play so much as a kid, but Dad opened a
billiard club when I was a teenager. Once I figured out that
kids at school thought it was "cool," I started
picking up the cue more often. It just snowballed from there.
Q: What do you
enjoy about the game?
A: It's fun! You
can play no matter how young or old you are. It's a constant
challenge, and you learn something new every time you step to
the table, no matter how long you've been playing. I've written
three books now with my former coach and we're in contract on a
fourth. And we're still learning, too!
Q: What made you
retire from touring in 2004?
A: It was time.
I'd been very fortunate to juggle being a mom, running a
magazine, promoting the women's tour and playing for nearly 20
years and getting away with that, but the competition kept
getting stiffer and I wanted to do other things, enjoy our new
home in Charleston, watch my kids excel at their own sports:
horseback riding and baseball.
Nowadays, the top
girls play as much as 10-12 hours a day to stay on top because
at that level, it's all about consistency: Who'll slip first.
Your mechanics, your mental game, everything has to be perfectly
tuned. I knew I wasn't willing to put that much time in anymore,
and to be honest, having so much fun down here totally
annihilated my killer instinct. You have to have that hunger in
you; I think I left mine in Chicago!
Q: Why did you
move to Summerville from Chicago?
A: I'd been lucky
enough to travel a lot competing, and my husband, Jeff, and I
came down for a billiard conference in Hilton Head. We decided
to spend a few extra days in Charleston and fell in love with it
instantly. The weather, the gardens, the architecture, the
people, the history.
Everything about
it screamed, "Yes!" We decided right then and there to
move within five years. We made it in four. Ten years later, we
still love everything that drew us here.
Q: What do you
like about your job as executive editor of Pool & Billiard
Magazine?
A: Job? What job?
Find what you love to do and you never work another day in your
life, isn't that what they say? Seriously though, it keeps me
connected to the sport and my player friends even though I'm no
longer on tour.
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Q: What do you find
most challenging about it?
A: Keeping up with
an international staff and lots of deadlines. With everything
online these days, to stay cutting edge requires constantly
ferreting out the newest products, news and the best instruction.
We're in the process of launching a digital edition, which will
get info out even faster.
Q: What have you
learned since starting Shark Marketing Co.?
A: I established
Shark Marketing after helping launch the women's tour. I really
enjoyed PR and wanted to branch out with more promotional work and
help women in business. I'd been underestimated plenty as a female
in business in the past, but growing up in a pool hall offered a
few distinct advantages as well.
My history as a
woman "in a man's game" was an incredible gift. I was
privy to insights I might never have learned elsewhere. And it's
let me pursue other passions, like working with the Center for
Women (Stauch is on the board of directors), and a phenomenal
writer's conference in New Orleans called Words & Music.
But the learning
part, well that's daily: The face of marketing is rapidly
changing, I think for the better. Consumers are the driving force
now; it's no longer a company telling us what to think. Smart
companies are learning to listen and make customers part of their
growth and innovation. It's challenging, but exciting, too.
Q: You're leading a
seminar soon called "How to Beat the Boys at Pool."
What's the idea behind that name, and what will women learn there?
A: A book was
published in 2004 called "You Can Do It," a sort of Girl
Scout merit badge book for grown-up girls, conceived of by United
Flight 93 heroine Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas. The authors called
one day and invited me to mentor a section in the book called
"How to Beat the Boys at Pool."
That's how I met
Jennet Alterman and became involved in the Center for Women. The
center now does a whole "You Can Do It" series based on
that concept, among their other amazing programs.
What women don't
realize is that pool really is a women's sport! We don't have to
sweat or wear headbands and jog bras, and pool isn't about brute
strength: It's all about touch, finesse. It's a great equalizer,
and you see today's top women pros consistently earning bigger
purses and bigger sponsor endorsements because of that.
Q: Your son, Jake,
was featured in The Post and Courier last year after achieving a
rare score of 2400 on the SAT. Any tips for other parents who want
to help their children achieve such success?
A: Stay out of
their way! No, seriously, to say I'm proud would be an
understatement, but really we just gave our kids the tools.
They're amazing, independent young adults and I'm impressed by
them every day. And the best tool we can offer (besides letting
them know how much they impress us when they do!) is to love
reading. My daughter, Megan, a College of Charleston grad and now
attending graduate school down here, reads a book a day. Jeff and
I get through a couple a week. From the time they were very young,
that was the one "impulse" we indulged. They couldn't
buy the brand new toy or gadget or outfit, but whatever they
wanted at Barnes & Noble, go for it! We have a very eclectic
library at home as you can imagine
If you go
Shari Stauch
will lead a workshop, "How to Beat the Boys at Pool," as
part of Center for Women's You Can Do It Series. 10 a.m. to noon
Saturday at Player's Place, 1401 Sam Rittenberg Blvd. $20 for
center members, $40 for nonmembers. Registration required.
763-7333 or c4women.org.
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