Susan Shumaker joined the Florentine team in 2002 as an intern on The War, with funding from an NEH/West Virginia Humanities Council professional development grant. She was soon hired by writer Dayton Duncan as a story researcher on The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. She focused her efforts on contributions made to the parks by underserved populations, both historically and today. The resulting research was used throughout the film, in the companion book and website, and in a series of short films written by Susan and directed by Roger Sherman.

Before working with Florentine, Susan was a pioneer of digital multimedia, developing award-winning educational CD-ROMS and websites for Harvard, Brown, and Columbia Universities in the early 1990s. She left the field in 1996 to indulge her passion for food and travel, writing for national publications like Bon Appetit, The New York Times, Prevention, and Vegetarian Times, in addition to self-publishing a successful line of travel guides for vegetarians.

Susan graduated summa cum laude from West Virginia University, with honors in English Literature, and received a Masters of Theological Studies degree from Harvard Divinity School. She lives in West Virginia with her husband, Than Saffel, and their two children.