Our Story
Suzanne
Crociati is the founder of the Women's initiative team. This is her story....
My parents divorced when I was in college. It was horrible for me, but far worse for my mom. My dad moved on to a new life. My mom never got over it. She lost everything. She lost her home and had to move to a tiny apartment. She lost her job, because my dad was a doctor and she worked in his office. He continued to live in affluence, but my mom's lifestyle changed completely.
She was left with nowhere to turn.
The family lawyer and financial advisor were my dad's people. He got a much better divorce settlement because his lawyer was better. After the divorce, she only lived for seven more years. During that time, she moved from one small apartment to another. She always worried about money running out. She was never as happy again. It broke my heart because she was such a sweetheart. Without her, I wouldn't be who I am.
I'm passionate about saving other women from the kind of suffering my mom endured. I've founded a support group for women going through divorce. We provide a whole team: a financial advisor, a divorce attorney, a therapist, a realtor, a life coach, a mortgage broker, an insurance professional, and a CPA. If you're going through divorce, we will be your people.
Our group has helped more than 150 women in Boston. We're starting another in a different Massachusetts location. My dream is to have them nationwide.
There are no words to express how good it feels to help these women. They seek us out at really low points in their lives. We work with them and help them along the road to recovery. I make each client a plan that shows how to get to a good place with their finances. It's amazingly rewarding to see how much relief it brings them. This is my way of processing and coping with what happened to my mom. It's my way of empowering women for my mom's sake. It's my gift to her. I wish she'd had a team like ours.
Seeing my mom's struggle also taught me to build my own strength. I didn't want anyone to have as much control over me as my dad did over my mom. It's changed how I raise my daughter. I've raised her to be self-sufficient and independent. I'm so proud of her. She's in college and she's a journalist. I look at her and think, "Wow, that's the girl I raised." And she's also part of her grandmother's legacy.
