Co-Founder and President, Beyond Survival
Born and raised in the wide-open ranch country of San Angelo, Texas, Susan learned early the values of grit, faith, and community that would shape everything to come. In 1981, at the age of thirty-three, she was widowed when her husband, Col. John Ditto, Marine Corps fighter pilot, was tragically killed in a Harrier jet crash. Left to raise two young children, she rebuilt her life with remarkable perseverance and strength. Three years later, in 1984, she founded Susan Page Modeling Agency and School in Honolulu, growing it into Hawaii’s leading agency before successfully selling the company in 1993.
In 1989, during this same busy chapter, she co-founded Freeze Frame Fashion Photography in California and, as president of Susan Pages of California, expanded the boutique retail brand to ten locations across Los Angeles and San Diego, with licensed franchises in Japan and Indonesia.
A former Miss Texas and Miss America semifinalist with professional training in theater, film, and television, Susan enjoyed a successful on-camera and voice-over career, appearing in commercials and lending her warm, distinctive voice to radio and television projects throughout the Hawaiian Islands and LA.
From 1992 to 2016, under the byline “Susan’s Page,” she wrote a popular weekly lifestyle column for Hawaii’s MidWeek Magazine (Susan’s Page) writing on an eclectic range of topics: business, fashion, politics, patriotism, our military, charities, and travel. She often shared her humanitarian trips to Africa, reported on a war-amputee baseball team, children bravely fighting cancer and told countless other stories that touched and inspired readers.
For twenty-four consecutive years, Susan co-hosted Hawaii’s Kapiolani Children’s Miracle Network Telethon and served on the boards of Kapiolani Health Foundation, Women In Need, and Heart for Africa. She has led thirteen humanitarian mission trips in the sub-Saharan African countries of Eswatini, Kenya, and Malawi, focusing on vulnerable children orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Later she reconnected with friend, retired Navy Captain Jerry Coffee—a decorated Vietnam 7-year POW and bestselling author and speaker. For almost thirty years Susan became the cornerstone of her beloved husband’s highly acclaimed inspirational speaking career, managing his business with skill and devotion while also caring for him through significant health challenges until his passing in 2021. Susan divides her time between Aiea, Hawaii, and Alexandria, Virginia. Susan remains a vocal advocate for our wounded veterans, opining critically about the effects of war based on personal experience. With quiet strength, boundless faith, and a heart that seeks God’s truth, she remains a devoted steward of legacy—honoring the sacrifice of the heroes she loved by keeping their stories relevant in today’s culture. She is passionately driven to bring Jerry Coffee’s universal life-changing message of overcoming adversity with faith to new generations.
Memberships: First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu; Capital Speakers Club, Washington, DC; Republican Women’s Federal Forum, Washington, DC; Delta Delta Delta sorority; Mu Tau Sigma (Miss Texas Sisters)