Susanna was born in Manchuria, but grew up in Canada.
She studied for three summers at the Banff School of fine Arts as a teenager, then travelled to England where she studied at several schools for 4 years, followed by a scholarship to the Royal Academy for a further four years, winning several more scholarships, prizes and a silver medal from that institution.
She travelled later to California where she began her teaching career, first at the College of Marin, in Marin county, and later, after returning to Canada, at U.B.C. in the Fine Arts Department as well as for Continuing Education, and in many other public and private art programs.
Her career was varied and complex, producing murals in Restaurants and private homes, as well as for Science world, posters for publishing companies that sell internationally, and painting portraits that took her to many countries outside of Canada.
In 1997 she painted a portrait of Prince Edward and delivered it to Buckingham Palace.In 2003 she won a nationwide competition for a new image of The Queen, which is now on all Canadian Coins, and later won another coin competition for a limited edition silver Dollar coin.
In 2003 she went back to art school full time to study sculpture under George Rammell, at Capilano University.
In 2017, Susanna won the North Shore Distinguished Artist Award in North Vancouver, Canada. And produced a new image of Queen Elizabeth II for Canadian Coin World to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation, on bronze, sliver and gold medals.