By NJ Clausen

Happy New Year to All! My wish for this year is that we all enjoy more kindness, patience, and joy wherever we may be—at home, on the road, in a store—embodying the characteristics that makes Kernersville such a wonderful place to live. This month I have the pleasure of introducing you to someone who has been active in our community for many years…Susanna Nunn.

A native of North Carolina, Susanna and her younger brother grew up in a neighborhood full of kids, mostly boys. Swimming and being outside were her favorite things to do, along with playing football and basketball. In school, Susanna liked math and reading, which included many biographies and mysteries (especially Nancy Drew), and because of this, she enjoyed working in the library.

In high school, Susanna was in the Juniorettes, which was a civic club, as well as Vice President of her senior class, on the yearbook staff, and a fan of Friday night football. She remembers that the football games were a big family event that she loved going to. Susanna’s parents have been an integral part of her life; Susanna’s father was a banker and taught her early to save money, and about the importance of having an emergency fund. Her mother was a teacher, and from her, she learned the importance of educating people so they can make good decisions. When she turned 16, Susanna’s parents told her that in order for them to buy her an old car, she would have to pay to keep it up and get a job. They had a family friend who owned an insurance agency, so Susanna called to see if he had a part-time job available. He did! There were claims to file, errands to run, and mail to put through the postage machine. Susanna worked there off and on for 3 years, her last 2 years of high school and her first year of college at UNC where she majored in Economics.

After graduating with her degree, Susanna was able to procure a temporary position with an elevator company. She did their billing, payroll, inventory, and accounts receivable for a couple of years before being hired by an insurance underwriting company who insured higher risk people locally and at the beach. Susanna worked in claims for 3 years, then continued to gain experience at other insurance companies. Susanna had married 3 years after graduating, and a job for her husband took them down to Atlanta. Growing tired of all the traffic on her commute to work, Susanna was able to become part of an insurance group that was much nearer and has since remained with that company. She worked as a claims representative for 7 years, then applied for an agency liaison position in Winston-Salem which allowed her to come back to North Carolina with her children. Susanna would go to all the agents in the territory, helping them with marketing and sales. She did that for about three years then decided that she could be an agent and have her own agency. The location was in Kernersville, and in 2008 they moved here. This was a big change for the family as it was no longer a 9-5 job, but as her children were older, they were able to be independent and handled the change well. Susanna told them the first year that if they would be patient with her, she would earn the family a trip to Hawaii. Months later, her daughter asked how it was going and Susanna admitted it was not going as well as she would like, to which her daughter responded that Susanna never told her she was going to do something and did not do it. With the weight of that on her shoulders, Susanna worked even harder and qualified for the trip to Hawaii!! In 2015, Susanna married again, finding love a second time.

Susanna has been involved with the Kiwanis Club, a club that focuses on kids, since moving to Kernersville. Lately they have been focused on literacy, buying books, and putting them in vending machines at elementary schools. The school determines the parameters of who will be able to choose a book written in English or Spanish. Susanna has also been on the Chamber of Commerce board, the YMCA board, and the Next Step Ministries board. She considers it a sense of calling, a higher duty, to be involved in the community, and appreciates having the availability (that not all do) to serve. Susanna spoke of the number of non-profits in Kernersville, including Crisis Control, the Shepherd’s Center, and the YMCA to name a few, and a very vibrant downtown. She affirms we have something special in Kernersville.

When asked what she hopes the New Year will bring, Susanna immediately responded with the word “kindness.” Treating everyone with kindness and respect are traits practiced at her agency, and she would like to see them practiced more in the world.