In 2003, the town of Fuquay-Varina looked quite different — home to only about 10,000 residents, many of the beloved events and amenities enjoyed today, including Follow Me to Fuquay-Varina concerts, the Arts Center, and the signature slogan — A Dash More — did not yet exist. But some might say a turning point was nearing.
Susan Weis, a former marketing executive for Deloitte & Touche, lived in Willow Spring with her young family and took a part-time job with the Fuquay-Varina Downtown Association.
“I fell in love with Fuquay,” says Susan.
The town’s downtown revitalization was in its infancy, as downtown manager Susan brought marketing expertise and local know-how to the effort.
“We’ve come a long way,” she says.
During her years with the FVDA, Susan wrote the initial application for Fuquay-Varina to become a Main Street Community, a designation from the Department of Commerce that the town maintains today.
“It was a great job. … It gave me a lot of purpose and a lot of chances to have wins,” she says.
“I met great people — people I still have connections with today.”
One of those people was Andy Hedrick, Fuquay’s town manager at that time, who approached Susan with a job offer, a position with the town government created just for her.
“I told him no,” she recalls, “but to come back to me in a year.”
Susan grew up in Hendersonville, a small town in Western NC with an enviable, charming downtown. Early on she aspired to a career in politics, working a stint in a Washington, DC, senator’s office before realizing her real affinity for local government.
“Local government really does affect your life. … You can make a connection with so many people, and it’s not removed. Anybody can pick up the phone and call me or call the mayor, and they’ll get him.
“It’s smaller scale, but (local government) actually has really strong ramifications on the quality of life for people.”
So, after that year passed, Andy again came knocking, and Susan agreed to join the Town of Fuquay-Varina full time as communications director.
Award-winning video productions spearheaded by Susan Weis’ creative leadership include the 2023 series Fuquay-Varina Firsts and annual State of the Town addresses.
On her first day in a “hole-in-the-wall” office with no windows (a sharp contrast to the current town hall building at 134 N. Main St.), Andy gave Susan a directive that would steer her professional career going forward: I want people to know who Fuquay-Varina is.
“I asked him, ‘So how are we going to do that?’” Susan remembers. “He goes, ‘Good luck.’”
From the ground up, Susan built a communications department, working with the town managers, department heads, and “anybody who would help me, because it was a really big job.”
“Our goal is to always try and be that trusted first source for information,” she says. “In an era of a lot of distrust of government, I think it’s really important for us to provide truthful, transparent, and timely information to our residents so they can know what’s going on and make decisions, but our goal is also to create community.”
With Susan at the helm, the Communications Department handles weekly emails, a monthly newsletter, the Town of Fuquay-Varina website (which garners 2 million hits per year), Facebook, Instagram, award-winning videos, media relations, an online store, and internal communications — always guided by that same original idea: I want people to know who Fuquay-Varina is.
“When I started, we did newsletters, print ads, and tried to get people interviews. We advertised our events with posters. … Now we have to constantly reevaluate how we reach people. Everybody communicates differently,” she says.
In 2015, the town went through a yearlong branding process, engaging and surveying the community.
“Our branding has been key to who we are,” says Susan, calling it one of the things she is most proud of professionally.
“We asked (residents) what they thought; we asked other people what they thought of us,” she says.
Susan Weis and Town of Fuquay-Varina team members interact with the community at the annual Celebrate Fuquay-Varina festival.
The results were adopted in 2016: the current logo and infamous slogan “A Dash More.”
“People describe us as smart, fun, and creative, and I would say a little quirky. We have a lot of people who really love living here and they’re really engaged. I’m not sure that every town can say that. That branding — A Dash More — has made us recognizable, but it’s also given us a culture.
“It’s really helped us find who we are. It gives us messaging consistency and confidence. And I think that our businesses and our community really bought into it.”
A full trophy case in the lobby of town hall displays numerous awards won by the Communications Department since its inception. Susan estimates as many as 25 (or more!) awards from the City-County Communications & Marketing Association (3CMA), the NC Association of Festivals & Events, and other organizations, including the 2023 video series “Fuquay-Varina Firsts, Celebrating Black History,” which achieved a perfect score and a top national distinction, the 3CMA’s Diamond Award, beating more than 875 entries.
The viral standout from the 2024 State of the Town address, “A-Dashmore, The Prescription for Good Living,” earned a 3CMA first place award in the category for One-Time Video, and these are just two examples of many.
“I’m very proud of the video that we do,” Susan says. “I think knowing who you are, and knowing what your brand is, and trying to reach your people the way they can be reached is the right answer. Why do an annual State of the Town for 20 people in a room when you can do it and have 50,000 people watch it?”
“Susan is the creative engine of our organization,” says Adam Mitchell, town manager of Fuquay-Varina, who has worked with Susan for nearly 13 years.
“A lot of her responsibilities require and involve creativity and thinking about things differently than you would in a standard government setting. That’s where Susan helps us to elevate and, I think, be one of the better local government organizations in the state of North Carolina.”
Adam describes Susan’s work on the town’s branding project as “instrumental” and the vision she brings to the town’s videos as “fresh” and “forward thinking.”
The Weis family loves to travel, pictured here in St. Croix. From left: Alex, Steve, Susan, and Morgan.
“The whole goal in the State of the Town videos was that government topics can be vanilla, and for lack of a better way of saying it, kind of boring at times. What we wanted to do was inject some humor. It starts with the leadership and the vision. … It all started with Susan being willing to bring creativity to the table,” says Adam.
Susan sees success not only in the awards, but in the way the town’s residents engage and participate in the opportunities available to them.
“We have a very engaged public. We invite the engagement. We invite public input. We want to hear from people — constructively,” she says.
“Susan understands the value of relationships, and she’s able to communicate with people in a way that … really leaves them feeling like government does care about me, about my well-being, my livelihood, and the community that we live in,” says Adam.
Outside of town hall, Susan’s proudest accomplishment is her family: husband Steve, daughter Morgan, and son Alex.
“We raised two terrific kids. They’re thoughtful; they’re kind; they’re smart. I love the fact that they still like to be with us,” she says.
Susan and daughter Morgan attending Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour
Susan loves to travel, garden, refinish furniture, and is learning to bake sourdough with 25-year-old starter.
“I think in an alternate life I would have been an interior decorator,” Susan admits, adding that when Fire Station 4 opened she was asked to help “make this home.” The team at Station 3 has recently asked for the same.
“We live in a world that really embraces that you only live once, but that’s a lie,” Susan insists. “You only die once.
“Every day, you get a brand-new start, right? And you have to live it with intention and live it to its fullest,” Susan says. “I’m not perfect at it, but I really do try.”
“I think that there are people who will tell you, especially women, all the things that they want you to do: I want you to do this. I want you to look this way. I want you to have this job. There are no lack of opinions on what it is that somebody wants you to do. If you don’t know yourself and what you value, those voices can take over.
“To live intentionally, you have to know yourself. … And I think that also plays back to what it is that we’ve done for the town — we’ve been very intentional about the way we communicate. We’ve been very intentional about knowing who our people are and what makes their quality of life best.”
Susan Weis is one of Cary Magazine’s 2026 Women of Western Wake. Visit carymagazine.com to read more about this year’s outstanding honorees.
Readers of Main & Broad are invited to attend the Women of Western Wake Forum at The Umstead Hotel and Spa on September 25 — a day of inspiration and celebration recognizing distinguished women in the local community. Womenofwesternwake.com
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