“I find in the Northeast that we move fast, we work hard, keep going—we’re very resilient.”
Suzanne Kasperski has deep roots in Stroudsburg—so deep, in fact, that she’s a fourth-generation local. Her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents all grew up here, and Suzanne did too—attending Stroudsburg High School before heading to Blair Academy for a post-graduate year. She went on to Bucknell University, where she studied psychology and education with a minor in law, originally planning for a future as a school or criminal psychologist.
But home has a way of pulling you back.
After college, Suzanne joined her family’s iconic Snydersville Family Diner, a business her father first worked at when he was just 13 years old and later purchased in 1974. That decision turned into a 30-year chapter of her life. Suzanne eventually bought the diner in 2004, helping to run a massive operation—200 seats, 100 employees and a loyal customer base that felt more like extended family. During those years, she met her husband, Jeff Sodl, longtime principal at Stroudsburg High School and raised their two sons. Their eldest lives in Florida, where he’s studying to become an airline pilot, while their younger son is a senior at Dickinson College and plays baseball.
When the diner was sold in 2019, Suzanne turned the page once again, launching a successful real estate career. She started with RE/MAX, then opened the first Pocono location of Christian Saunders Real Estate in Stroudsburg in 2025.
A proud mom, dog lover and rescuer of a pet pig named Hamilton, Suzanne’s work ethic was shaped by decades at the diner—something she now carries with her in her dedication to finding the perfect NEPA home for her clients.
We met Suzanne at her newly renovated Main Street office to learn more about her path from diner owner to top-producing real estate agent, swap Hamilton stories and, of course, ask the question—Why NEPA?
How long have you lived in NEPA?
59 years.
What do you love about your town?
Oh my gosh, I love so much about Stroudsburg. I remember going to college and my friends always saying, “Something crazy is in the water there,” because I was always talking about my hometown.
I loved growing up here, and I know people say it has changed, and I see the changes, too. Obviously, we have a lot more development than we did when I was growing up, and we’ve had a lot more influx of people from out of town, but I have enjoyed that change. My kids grew up in a much more diverse atmosphere than I did, and I think it’s a positive. So, I just see that positive things have happened around here, and I still love it.
Stroudsburg has all of the conveniences of a bigger city. We’re close to New York and Philadelphia, but it still has that very small-town feel. Some of the experiences you have around here are straight out of a Hallmark movie. I would challenge anybody to come to the tree lighting here in Stroudsburg and not think you are in a Hallmark movie.
I know most of the local business owners around here, so it’s just home to me. My kids grew up here after having generations of family grow up here and I know how safe and secure they feel in this town. And I think they, too, will want to stay close when they get older. It was a great place to grow up, and it’s a great place to live.
What’s your favorite NEPA restaurant?
Ha! Well, I would have said Snydersville Family Diner forever, and I still encourage people to eat there. I know when we had it, we were still following the same recipes that we did from the 1930s. So that would have been my favorite restaurant, and it’s still the one that holds my heart.
But oh my gosh, that’s one of the great things about this town is there are so many great restaurants, and my husband and I, we eat out a lot. We only eat home two to three times a week, and the rest of the nights we eat out. We definitely have our cycle of places we eat on a regular basis, but it depends what you’re in the mood for.
You can always find us every Monday night at Marita’s Bar and Grill for the half-price fajitas. And on Thursdays, we eat with my dad at Frank’s Pizza & Italian Restaurant in Bartonsville. Flood’s is a great bar restaurant on Main Street. I eat at The Cure Café for lunch a couple times a week, and that’s phenomenal. And we love this restaurant across the street, Chris’s. It’s a BYOB kind of Polish Eastern European restaurant, and it’s fabulous.
What’s your favorite thing to do in NEPA?
I do enjoy going out and just socializing and eating. But we have many downtown festivals. We have a lot of parades for a small town, and I enjoy going to those, too. We have beautiful outdoor activities. Even just going for a drive through the Poconos, it’s amazing how many lakes and waterfalls and just beautiful scenes that you will come across. I am as amazed by the beauty of the Poconos as my clients are. And I love driving around these and seeing all the beautiful things that I have taken for granted for so many years.
What’s next for you?
I have loved this transition into real estate. I really, really love it. I would say, out of a 24-hour day, I’m doing real estate for about 18 hours. My younger son plays baseball in college, so we are traveling to baseball all through the spring. We try to get down to visit my older son. And I have a niece and nephew nearby that I adore that we try to get to their things. But if I’m not doing something related to my family, I am doing real estate. I love it. Anybody who knows me knows that this is what I’m doing when I’m not with my family.
Where do you see NEPA heading in the future?
I see Northeastern Pennsylvania continuing to evolve into a region that offers both opportunity and quality of life. We’ve seen growth driven by people relocating for affordability, remote work flexibility, and lifestyle, especially in the Poconos along the I-80 corridor and surrounding communities. At the same time, I think the region is becoming more intentional about preserving what makes it special: its natural beauty, small-town character, and strong sense of community. I don’t think the future should be about over-development. It should be about smart, thoughtful growth that supports local businesses, infrastructure, and housing needs while protecting the character that draws people here in the first place. So I am hopeful that its next chapter is about balance—growth with purpose!
Why NEPA?
Because I am very family-focused, that’s what helped me make my decision when I was in college. I always thought I was going to move to a city or someplace else and start my life. That always seemed appealing. But then I realized I was so connected to my family.
My parents grew up here. My grandparents grew up here. My four grandparents were all one of eight to ten, and those great-aunts and uncles were still in the area. And then my aunts and uncles, there were probably 50 of them, and then I had countless cousins. This is where my family’s from, and this is what I’m connected to. And I love this area.
My older son, who’s in Florida, he feels what I would have felt if I did not live in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Where are the seasons? We have the most beautiful of all seasons. I don’t care where you go. If you go south of here, you’re not going to get enough of one season or another. But right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania, we seem to get the exact right amount of every season. There’s just enough fall, and by the time that’s done, I’m ready for that first snowfall. And then I’m ready for that to go, and then spring comes right on time. I love the seasons.
I love the mountains. We don’t have mountains like the Rockies, but we have enough mountains that it makes the scenery interesting. And when you do have fall, you can see those trees—you know, they’re above you, they’re below you. We have valleys, we have mountains, we have streams, we have lakes. It’s just beautiful around here.
I say, stay where you’re planted and grow big. So that’s why I’m still here. And I love it. I still have family in the area that I’m committed to staying close to. And I have friends that feel like family.
This whole community feels like a family to me, so I’m not going anywhere.
