Suzanne Schmitz Lear

  • grew up in Brussels, Belgium
  • has an older brother, Stephan
  • very strict upbringing, parents focused on her brother
  • education was much more difficult in Belgium compared to the US
  • top of her class
  • maiden name is Schmitz
  • “If a school is filled with stupid kids, it’s boring.”
  • didn’t come with the intention of staying
  • came to America with a green card
  • wanted independence and to experience American culture
  • never heard of marijuana before coming to the US
  • all her education credits transferred, but after getting married Nanou wanted to finish a degree and she was advised to become a teacher
  • she wanted to continue her schooling
  • studied at Montclair State and got her teaching license, and then years later just after having kids she got her MBA from Rutgers
  • Fell in love with my grandpa so she decided to stay
  • They met in a bar a few months after she came to America
  • Came when she was 20 
  • Had learned British English but the accent change from what she learned was shocking