About

I'm Suzie! Welcome to my website!

I was born and raised in Cupertino, California once the home of fruit orchards and now the home of Apple, Inc. Cupertino is a small supburb (pop. ~60,000) 50 miles South of San Francisco and 350 miles North of Los Angeles. My family is very musical and I got heavily involved in musical theater around the age of 8 and this continued to be one of my main interests in life until about the age of 20 when I discovered you could study and work with NATURE! While I still love a jolly old sing-song, it was at that point when performing in musicals got the boot and learning as much as possible about plants and the natural world in general became the priority.

After finishing my BS degree in Environmental Studies and spending my whole life in the Bay Area, I was feeling ready to get out and see the world! With plans to travel and do a Masters anywhere but the Bay Area, I happened upon an opportunity to do a fully funded Masters with an amazing advisor (Dr. Nishi Rajakaruna) with promise of travel to Portugal and two summers living in the beautiful Feather River Canyon of the Northern Sierra Nevada. The stars were aligned and I was thrilled!

After visiting Portugal during grad school to present at the 7th International Conference on Serpentine Ecology and making a side trip to a small youth hostel in the South of France, I was hooked on travel. After two trips back to France to be the assistant for the course Prehistory, Food, Culture, and Commerce of the Southwest of France at San Jose State, I spent a year and a half volunteering and traveling around Europe.

Since returning I have been working as a Naturalist at the Mendocino Outdoor Science School where I teach 6th graders during the Spring and Fall and will be the summer naturalist for leading groups of various ages on botany walks and nature adventures starting in 2016. As of now that leaves my winters open and I am hoping to fill them with new experiences and travel to cool places!

Why did I name the website "Je Suis Bracken?". I used "Je Suis" ("I am" in French) simply because I love the French language! I used "Bracken" because I am! At my current job, we take nature names quite seriously. Bracken is the one I chose. Bracken fern is a super cool fern because it's circumboreal. That means it lives on every continent (natively) except Antartctica! Pretty neat. Also, you can eat the fiddleheads in early Spring - yum!

I have worked as a pet sitter, waitress, street canvasser, babysitter, field assistant, Teacher, gardener, house keeper, Botanist, and Naturalist. Whether I am teaching kids about science, doing field research or cleaning toilets I put my whole heart and soul into the job. Contact me if you have an idea for my next adventure (especially if you want to pay me to do it!)