About Susan Zimet

Susan Zimet is an author, activist, photographer and parent. Her love for children is present in all she does. Susan’s deep -rooted belief is that no child should ever have to suffer. She is also passionate about women’s rights- the right to have their voices heard; the right to equal pay; the right to be free from discrimination and sexual abuse; the right to live one’s dreams.

As an Ulster County Legislature and former Town Supervisor of New Paltz, Zimet decided that there was not enough attention being paid to this historic upcoming centennial anniversary and specifically the suffragists who had fought so hard to make holding such offices possible to women. With this in mind, and in partnership with the Susan B. Anthony Museum & House, Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation, and the AAUW, Susan Zimet created 2020: Project Women, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating, celebrating, and promoting the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, granting women the right to vote.

Through the work of 2020: Project Women, NY Senator Betty Little introduced legislation to form the NYS Suffrage Centennial Commission. Susan now serves on the Commission.

While passionate about 2020: Project Women and the mission of the organization, Susan is equally as invested in the issue of hunger. Starting in 2015 Susan joined the Hunger Action Network of New York State as their Executive Director, where she worked with private and governmental agencies to increase funding for emergency food providers while advocating for policy that would lift people out of poverty.  In February of 2019, Susan was appointed to the position of Food and Anti-Hunger Policy Coordinator for the State of New York.

Zimet held elected office from 1996 through 2015 representing New Paltz as either its Town Supervisor or Ulster County Legislature. In 1995, Susan was the first woman elected to the position of Town Supervisor of New Paltz, which was incorporated in 1678.

During this time, Susan became a leading spokesperson and advocate for the issues she believes in, including women’s rights, property tax reform, protecting the environment and opposing hydro-fracking. In fact, in 2013, Susan helped found an organization called Frack Action, and was an executive producer on a series of commercials lobbying against the dangerous practice, starring high-powered actors Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo (Watch the videos here: I Love My NY Water - 1 minute and I Love My NY Water - 30 seconds).

When Susan's first child Andrew was born in 1985, she left the world of Advertising, where she was serving as VP, Associate Media Director at Grey Advertising, overseeing many blue-chip clients including General Foods and Timex. Susan was then recruited to serve as an adjunct professor at SUNY New Paltz, teaching Advertising and Marketing courses, while also overseeing the colleges international marketing internship program.  

Susan is a mother of two, Andrew and Hannah and lives in Athens, NY with her husband, Steve. She recently became a grandma to her love, baby Lily.