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The Work We Do: Susan Halladay, Jamesport Bay Suites

Hi, my name is Susan Halladay. I’m the general manager of the Jamesport Bay Suites in South Jamesport. 

My responsibilities are many. I am the phone salesperson. I’m also the booking manager. I do all of the advertising and the online booking site that we have. So when someone calls up, I have to make the reservation, make sure it gets off the booking site and deal with all the phone conversations. Also, I’m the liaison for all the workers here. And I’m the night manager, so I do stay here overnight sometimes. We do run a paddleboard business out of here, as well as a kayak rental business out of here.

A great part of my job is that when I check people in, I get to tell people where to go, like all the wineries, all the different wineries. It’s like now I’m the concierge of the North Fork and that’s really fun. I just love seeing people have a great time.

It can get hectic at times. People are checking in and checking out, and there are also people coming in to rent paddleboards and kayaks during the day.

So it’s a lot of fun, a lot of business. I love it, and I get to meet a lot of people so it’s very exciting and active all day. I would say I’m never bored.

At 7 a.m., we have the Broads on Boards (and the men that love us), and I can have anywhere from eight to 15 people come in the morning and want to paddle. We go out and do some yoga stretches and do some destination paddles. It’s a lot of people who want a little break from life and want to meditate before they go off and start their busy days.

You could say I work 24/7, but at least my work is at the beach. I guess my favorite part of the job is that I get to paddleboard at seven in the morning, and then come back to my job and be able to handle whatever is thrown at me throughout the day.

“The Work We Do” is a News-Review multimedia project profiling workers around Riverhead Town. It is made possible by Peconic Landing. See more photos on Instagram @riverheadnewsreview.