Suzie grew up sailing and rowing in Lake Ontario near the Thousand Islands area. Exploring nearby islands gave her a taste for freedom and adventure. This developed into a lifelong passion for the wilderness and wildlife, inspiring her to attain a Master of Science in Animal Behavior in Newfoundland, Canada.
Since then, she has spent over twenty years as a field biologist in Alaska, the Arctic, and North Atlantic areas, primarily studying marine mammals. Currently, Suzie is based in Alaska where she has enjoyed guiding adventurous, multi-sport hiking and camping trips for over a decade. She loves romping with dogs in the mountains and embraces many outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, biking, kayaking, and dip-netting salmon.
In recent years, she built an off-the-grid cabin in the largest national park in the United States, Wrangell-St. Elias, which is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Suzie is also a certified yoga instructor and enjoys taking her personal practice outdoors in whatever location she finds herself—from the tundra to the alpine, or to a lovely Oaxacan beach.