Susan Roesgen may not be a New Orleans native, but over and over again she’s been drawn back to the Crescent City.
An award-winning national reporter, Susy has gone on patrol with the U.S. Army in Haiti, bartered for a camel in Cairo, and sailed on the Sea of Galilee in Israel.
She has also been a prime-time television and radio news correspondent in several cities across the country, from San Diego to New York, including three separate positions here in New Orleans: once at WDSU from 1993 to 2000, then a National Public Radio reporter based in New Orleans from 2003 to 2005, and in 2005, Susy was the first correspondent chosen for CNN’s Gulf Coast Bureau after Hurricane Katrina.
Susan’s e-mail: susy@digital-stage.wgno.com
When friends come to visit New Orleans, the first place I take them is … to Café Du Monde to buy beignets and café au lait, then walk over to the iron benches in Jackson Square to eat and admire the park.
The most important lesson I’ve learned through my work as a journalist is … everybody’s got a story — and everybody would like a chance to tell it.
If I had the time I’d like to … go back to ballet school and practice for the starring role in Swan Lake.
A TV moment I’d like to forget is … the time I did everything possible to get close enough to President Clinton at a national news conference to ask a few questions, and when he saw me and said “Hello Susan!” I realized that I’d been so focused on getting the interview that I hadn’t bothered to think of anything to ask him!
I give back to my community by … teaching English as a second language to adult Spanish-speakers. We have many Hispanic immigrants since Katrina, and they are so eager to learn English and fit in. It’s rewarding to see them begin to feel comfortable and empowered in their new lives here.
