In real life, Sue Harrell is just as excited to tell you about Plant City’s favorite crop as she is online.
Harrell, the Florida Strawberry Growers Association’s Marketing Director, has spent the last 11 years with the company, spreading the word about strawberries through her “Strawberry Sue” blogs and travels for face-to-face time with consumers. The goal is to keep people both informed about Florida strawberries — especially in the winter season, when Harrell said many people don’t know the berries still grow in the state — and encouraged to buy them.
“People buy bananas every time they go in the grocery store,” Harrell said. “We want to be the bananas. We want everybody to pick up a container of strawberries every time they go in the grocery store.”
Harrell understands when consumers aren’t up to speed on Florida strawberries and how the local industry works. The Riverview native had absolutely noexperience with the agriculture industry and its workings until she graduated from East Bay High School, married her husband of nearly 41 years, Mark Harrell, and started working at H&W Farms with his family in Dover. Though it was her first experience with agriculture, she quickly took to it.
“I think it gets in your blood,” Harrell says. “You eat, breathe and talk it 24 hours a day. I think all the people we hang around, all our friends, are involved in ag in some way … this community that we live in, everyone is connected in some way or has a relative that is, if they’re not.”
In 1995, Harrell tried something new within the field. At the urging of then-CEO Ken Morena, she applied for and became a district manager for Driscoll’s Florida, which allowed her to travel around America and to countries such as Chile, Argentina and South Africa to promote what the company’s Florida operation was doing.
She held the role until 2007, when she tried something new and became Marketing Director for FSGA.
“It was always my dream job,” Harrell said.
Harrell’s mission is to tell the story of Florida strawberries to any audience. Sometimes that takes her to different states, where she’ll give presentations, and sometimes that means sticking closer to Dover to give tours (as many as 30 each year, she said) or visit schools to teach children all about berries with FSGA’s mascot, Jammer.
“I believe we need to begin at an early age to be as effective as possible,” Harrell said. “They will be the future buyers.”
One of Harrell’s favorite ways to keep consumers engaged is through her “Strawberry Sue” blog on the FSGA website. She made the commitment to strengthen the group’s online presence over five years ago with her blog and by embracing social media, which has since become a powerful tool for Harrell and FSGA in their educational efforts. Harrell will write about events, share recipes, feature individuals and share her other thoughts and experiences through “Sue’s Corner.”
“I love that social media has taken off,” Harrell said. “It’s been the most exciting way to promote Florida strawberries. By having recipe contests, photo sharing and just keeping everyone up to date on what is going on in the industry every day is how we can reach so many more strawberry lovers.”