Suzanne Coffey Mielke was born in Tennessee. Her father, Charlie Coffey, was a college football coach, and the family lived in Florida, Louisiana, Washington, DC, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Virginia during his coaching career. She graduated from the University of Tennessee, with a major in fashion merchandising. Her career profile has included retail management and buying, owning her own catering company, and conducting radio sales, with the majority of her career (seventeen years) spent as an executive television producer. She is the mother of two grown children, who are married, and the grandmother of six grandchildren, who refer to her as Zuzu. Suzanne is the author of another book entitled Providence Road. Suzanne is presently living in Charlotte, North Carolina.