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Director Susan Mendelson

Susan Mendelson arrived in Vancouver in 1971 to study theatre and English at UBC. When she changed her studies to Social Work in 1975 she needed to get a job to support her studies and her lifestyle. She got a job at The Vancouver East Cultural Centre as the house manager in the evenings so that she could pursue her studies during the day. The job did not pay enough to cover her expenses, so she started selling nanaimo bars, cheesecake and carrot cake in the lobby at intermission. It wasn’t long before the constant lineups and demand for her baking caught the ear of CBC host Anne Petrie who asked her to talk about her baking on CBC’s drive-home show. Before long, Susan was a regular on the show and within a few years her first cookbook, Mama Never Cooked Like This, was published and she opened her first shop with partner Deborah Roitberg and named it The Lazy Gourmet. Ten cookbooks later and after 43 years of the Lazy Gourmet, Susan sold her company and has moved onto the next chapter in her life. Having served on numerous boards and honourary boards over the decades including The VECC, Tamahnous Theatre, The Vancouver Playhouse, Chair of Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Vancouver and almost three decades on the Honourary Board of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, Susan is hoping to be able to offer her energy and excitement to the Board of Ballet BC.