SUSAN BAY NIMOY

“I live each day as if it were my last. Don’t count the days, make the days count.”

– SBN

Susan Bay Nimoy is the Founding Chair of the Institute for the Study of Women and Men, a gender studies institute at USC. She is also a former co-chair of The Environmental Leadership Forum of The California League of Conservation Voters. She is a former board member of both the Directors Guild of America and the board of “Mother Jones” Foundation for National Progress. She’s produced documentaries with subject matters ranging from the history of “Mother Jones” to artists Liza Lou and Twyla Tharp. Presently, Nimoy is a member of the Board of Advisors of The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and a member of the Leadership Council at the Sundance Institute. A recent short film she wrote, directed, and starred in was accepted into the Sundance Film Festival 2018. Currently she is working on adapting this short film, “Eve”, into a full length feature. 

Susan grew up in Los Angeles, and although she identifies as spiritual rather than religious, she has been profoundly influenced by Sister Corita Kent, an artist and teacher who was also an American Roman Catholic Religious Sister. Sister Corita’s art was her activism, and her spiritually informed social commentary promoted love and tolerance. Corita once said, “Maybe we are less than our dreams, but that less makes us more than some Gods would dream of.”

Travel and art play a big role in Susan’s life. “Art has alway brought ideas and the human condition into sharp focus,“ she says. At 78 she is firmly forward-facing. “I’m cognizant of the fact that there is more behind me than ahead,” she observes. That said, she’s not obsessed with youth, but is fascinated with what aging means. The film she is adapting explores these themes through the eyes of a woman struggling to embrace her new reality after the loss of her husband of 35 years. “I am doing exactly what I want to do today,” she explains. “When you get to my age, you want to wear the face you’ve earned.”

Reflecting on the women who have influenced her, and those whom she may have influenced, Susan points out how proud she is that her son, CEO and Co-Chair of Warner Music, recently married a strong, independent woman who is every bit an equal and a partner. He clearly had a fine example to follow.