Born in San Francisco but growing up in Japan, Joan Suzuki began studying Sogetsu ikebana in Tokyo and received her first teaching certificate at age 16. She returned to the USA in 1949 and began teaching ikebana in the Bay Area, also assisting her mother, Shunei Uchida, who first introduced Sogetsu to the area. Mrs. Suzuki holds the rank of Rigi in Sogetsu School.

A charter member of Ikebana International San Francisco Bay Area Chapter, she also is a past president and charter member of the Ikebana Teachers Federation. For more than three decades she has served as a Deputy Director of Sogetsu Bay Area Branch, planning and participating in many exhibitions and events.

She has been employed for more than 40 years as Administration Manager for the Northwestern Region Office of Japan Airlines but still makes time to attend many seminars at Sogetsu Headquarters in Tokyo and to organize cultural tours for Sogetsu students. She is an active Sogetsu teacher and has presented many demonstration programs and workshops, both in California and elsewhere. She will be joined in presenting this program by her daughter Joy, an accomplished glass artist visiting from her home in Japan.

Joy Suzuki studied glassblowing at San Francisco State University and after relocating to Japan, she has pursued her art independently and as an assistant for Makoto Ito at the Ito Glass Studio, Yamanashi, Japan. In 2001 she was an Artist in Residence with Yoko Hirosawa at the Kurashiki University of Arts and Sciences.

In 2005 she completed studies in engraving at Bild Werk in Frauenau, Germany. Joy also received a travel grant from the Japan Foundation and in the last 15 years has exhibited in Japan, Denmark, Germany, and the USA. In Japan she has exhibited frequently in museums and galleries, recently at Gallery Kai in Shibuya, Tokyo with "Autumn Light + Autumn Colors."