Born in the New York City area, Susan grew up a dedicated bookworm and tournament chess playing urbanite. The top ranked girl in her age group in Westchester County in chess and the #2 in the metro New York area, Susan used to think that a wilderness experience meant getting lost on a subway.
After winning academic scholarships to leading day and boarding schools, Susan entered Harvard as a sophomore and stumbled onto sports for the first time. Discovering only two women on the Harvard women’s swim team were willing to compete in the 200 yard butterfly event (arguably swimming's most grueling race), Susan decided to learn to swim so that she could fill the third remaining slot and earn a varsity letter.
By her senior year, Susan was both racing and an Assistant Coach to a nationally ranked AAU swim team. After Susan graduated–with honors along with her varsity sweater–she moved to Manhattan to start a corporate career in financial services executive search and then seed stage biotech venture capital. (The segue was more logical than it might seem.)
In her spare time, Susan taught scuba diving, worked as a shipwreck divemaster, and became a certified cavern diver. In 1991, Susan tried ice climbing in New Hampshire as a lark and was immediately hooked. That spring she began rock climbing and camping–even, to her delight, learning to pitch her own tent.
A fitness enthusiast, Susan has competed in ultramarathons, triathlons, and the race up the stairs of the Empire State Building. Nowadays her favorite activities are rock climbing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and running after her two young children.