Meet Suzanna

A Voice for Our Community

Suzanna Pavelle is running for Florida House District 19 because she’s watched the cost of living in St. Johns County climb while our Florida Lawmakers deliver for developers and special interests, not working families. She didn’t plan to run for office, but  her frustration turned into action.

She brings 26 years of small business experience, a background in community research and emergency response, and nearly a decade of nonprofit board service. She’s not a career politician. She’s someone who solves problems and keeps moving.

Suzanna Pavelle is a lifelong advocate for fairness, opportunity, and strong communities.

From Field Research to Florida

Suzanna grew up in Massachusetts and earned a B.A. from the University of Oregon, where she studied anthropology, archaeology, and history, with graduate coursework in underwater archaeology at East Carolina University. Her fieldwork took her to projects in Delaware, Oregon, Hawaiʻi, North Carolina, Maryland, and Bermuda.

What drew her to that work, and still drives her, is understanding how communities function and what shapes people’s choices.

In high school and college she worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club. Later she was a seasonal worker on Mt. Rainier, where wildfire and rescue response taught her to stay calm, assess situations quickly, and do what needs doing. That instinct has stayed with her ever since.

She is committed to:

  • Fighting for affordable housing and lower insurance rates
  • Investing in public schools and supporting teachers
  • Expanding access to quality, affordable healthcare
  • Protecting Florida’s environment and natural resources
  • Standing up for working families against special interests
  • Bringing transparency and accountability to Tallahassee

26 Years of Building Businesses

Suzanna and her husband Brian have built and run businesses for over two decades, starting with a web development company they launched in 2000 and sold in 2007, then a direct-to-consumer importing operation they later scaled back after COVID and tariff pressures.

Those experiences taught her to negotiate costs, manage operations, resolve disputes, and adapt quickly when conditions change. For every business they ran, they chose to offer health insurance, paid time off, paid volunteer time, and 401(k) plans to their staff, even when they weren’t required to because taking care of the people who work for you isn’t optional.

Running small businesses means living through recessions, shifting markets, and moments where the numbers might not work. It means making hard calls about where to invest and what to let go. That’s the mindset she’s bringing to Tallahassee

26 Years in St. Johns County

26 Years in St. Johns County

Suzanna has lived in St. Johns County for 26 years. She served nearly a decade on the Big Brothers Big Sisters board. After January 2025, she helped start a local Indivisible group and has been organizing in St. Augustine ever since, building the kind of large-scale civic engagement that brings community together and helps holds leaders accountable.

She and Brian have been married nearly 30 years. They have three dogs and spend as much time outdoors as possible — hiking, SCUBA diving, swimming, kayaking, or just being outside together. When you spend that much time in Florida’s natural environment, you can’t help but care deeply about protecting our waterways, our coastline, and the ecosystems that make this place special.

Why She's Running

Why She's Running

Florida is getting harder for regular people to afford, and the people in power aren’t delivering. Suzanna is running because District 19 deserves someone who will fight for sustainable development, real accountability, and a Florida that works for working families.

“I didn’t plan to run for office, but when no one stepped up in District 19, I couldn’t sit on the sidelines. Every challenge I’ve faced — in business, in the field, in our community — taught me the same lesson: you solve the problem in front of you and you keep moving. That’s what I’ll do in Tallahassee.”

What Sets Her Apart

What Sets Her Apart

Suzanna is known for calm, steady leadership under pressure and for bringing people together to get things done. What she’s most proud of is building organizations that last in business and in the community.
She combines real-world business experience with on-the-ground community leadership.

She’s comfortable making tough calls and staying accountable to the people affected by them.