Susan Hanggi grew up in Atlanta, GA where she began performing color guard at Pope High School. Throughout her four years, the guard was highly successful at WGI earning both a silver medal in Open Class, and a bronze medal in World Class. After high school, she marched three years of drum corps by becoming a member of both the Santa Clara Vanguard and Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps.  Susan spent five years marching in some of the best winter guards such as Inifiniti World, Pride of Cincinnati, and Phantom Regiment.

Susan began teaching color guard right after high school at Kell High School and spent the next seven years there. Having several successes throughout the years, Kell was a WGI A class finalist and silver medalist and earned high placements at BOA regionals. While teaching Kell, she also taught the 2008 DCI World champions, the Phantom Regiment. She has spent the past three summers at Carolina Crown and teaching their winter guard.

Throughout her time in Georgia, Susan also earned her Bachelor degree in Social Science Education and taught world history for two years in the Cobb County District. In 2009, Susan moved to Denton, Texas to begin her Masters degree in curriculum and instruction at the University of North Texas.