Omega Chapters: Susan Joseph Nielsen

From Civic Leader to Entrepreneur: Susan’s Journey 

Susan Joseph Nielsen is a lifelong learner. From studying Journalism in college to coaching businesses on growth strategies to driving her own business, she continues to master new challenges.

Growing up in the idyllic but small town of Walla Walla, she wanted to attend college in a larger city. She chose the University of Washington in Seattle and pledged Alpha Chi Omega (Rho) in 1980 where she was excited to pursue a degree in journalism.

From left to right: Susan and her Dad at UW Parents Weekend, UW AXO Exchange, Susan with her UW Big Sis Cathy Allen Melby)

However, during her sophomore year, Susan was faced with a difficult decision. UW was not admitting new students to their Journalism school (and many other schools) due to state higher education budgeting concerns.

This meant Susan needed to either choose a new major or choose a new school. 

Enter Washington State University and the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. 

Go Cougs! 

When Susan transferred to Washington State University and the Omega chapter, she had the comfort of knowing that two of her high school friends were Alpha Chi’s at WSU.

Their friendly faces and the fact that she could continue her AXO experience eased the stress of moving schools.

Pictured above:  The sister in green is a high school friend who was also an Omega. The sister on the right is a member of Susan's RV Club and introduced Susan to her husband.

In her senior year Susan lived out of the chapter house with Omega sisters Sheila Sites Davidson and Diane Idler Johns (Pictured right).

Susan is still in touch with both Sheila and Diane regularly. And, many years ago, Diane took her eldest under her wing when he moved to Sun Valley area for a job.

As they say, Sisterhood is for a lifetime and Susan's experience at two chapters is a testament to the bond of sisterhood.

Looking back she feels fortunate that she was able to establish deep bonds with women at UW – as well as establish deep bonds with women at WSU. 

A Career of Writing, Speaking, and Helping 

The early part of Susan’s career was centered around Communications leadership at a variety of companies. In 2014, she took that experience and expanded her responsibilities at the State of Washington where Susan became an Economic Development Manager. Working with 39 counties, she ensured small businesses were aware of all of the resources and programs available to them. 

As her final job in civil service, Susan was an Economic Development Specialist for the City of Spokane Valley.

Like her previous job at the State of Washington, she worked with businesses to share information about resources and programs to help their businesses succeed.

However, in this role, she was able to focus on holistic strategies for the businesses and City of Spokane Valley. 

Spicy! 

Since 1968, Gabe’s Gourmet Foods Spices was the passion project of her mother and father who created their products by hand initially in their kitchen, then a commercial kitchen and finally as a dry spice blend packaged by MarketSpice in Redmond (you may know their store at Pike Place Market)! Gabe's Original Dressing & Marinade Spices (10 premium ingredients) and Mama's Mediterranean Spices (eight premium ingredients) are the two signature spice blends. When Susan’s mother passed in 2017 and her father turned 87, the legacy method of sales and marketing no longer made sense, but her Dad wanted the spice to continue to be produced and distributed.  

At the request of her father, Susan agreed to take a more active role in the family business, Gabe’s Gourmet Foods, in 2019. She set up online ordering through the Gabe’s Gourmet website, she began marketing through events, adding more retail partner locations, engaging on Facebook and Instagram, and she broadened the Gabe’s offering to include restaurant packs for businesses (catering, chefs, restaurants) who wanted to use Gabe’s as their house salad dressing, marinade, dip or unique blended spice topping ingredient.

She used all of her accumulated entrepreneurial and marketing skills she previously provided to others to sustain and grow this now third-generation family spice business. 

If you are familiar with Mediterranean culture, food and meals are the bond that brings family and friends together. All major decisions or announcements are made over a meal, and cooking and dining together is a treasured tradition. Her parents were master entertainers and hosts of hundreds of meals over more than 60 years of marriage. The legacy salad dressing was born out of their hospitality, created as a holiday gift to friends in 1968. 

Join us for Cooking with Susan

Join your Alpha Chi sisters on April 9, at 5:30 PM, when Susan will lead an online cooking class featuring Gabe’s Gourmet blended spices used as a salad dressing, marinade and dry blended spice.

The menu is a delicious Mediterranean Salad with a Chicken Orzo main dish.

Check Evite to RSVP if you are an Omega or respond to this email and I’ll put you on the list. Everyone will receive a Zoom link, shopping list, mis en place, and recipe. 

Order your Gabe's Gourmet spices now!

Each participant will need to purchase 2 packets of Gabe’s Original and 1 packet of Mama’s Mediterranean for this event to follow the recipe as described.

Spices can be purchased at www.GabesGourmetFoods.com. Orders must be placed by April 1 to ensure delivery by April 9. To keep the event to one hour, please prep (chop, marinate) ingredients before the event begins.

What’s Next? 

It’s been almost a year since Susan retired and she’s put some miles on her car as well as her frequent flyer program. In the past 12 months, she’s spent time in Albuquerque, Kauai, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Virginia, Florida, Western Caribbean, Spring Training in Peoria, and Kona.

RV season is just around the corner so she’ll be hitting the road with her RV group very soon (one of my WSU sisters will be joining us in April). Also, it’s her 40th wedding anniversary in a few months. Always the goal getter, she’s planning 40 Adventures for 40 Years in 2026. 

In terms of Gabe’s Gourmet, Susan would like to grow the company. Her hope is to do more cooking classes and partner with more retail shops or restaurants. 

And of course, she loves talking about Gabe’s spices! She’s so proud of the recipe versatility and unique flavors. For the salad dressing, the spice mix can have different flavor profiles depending on the oil and vinegar used. For instance, a balsamic vinegar and olive oil mix will taste differently than an apple cider vinegar and vegetable oil mix but they both taste fabulous. It makes her day when new customers taste a sample, their eyes brighten, and they say “This is really delicious!”  

If you know of a good fit for Gabe’s Gourmet Spices at a restaurant or business near you, contact Susan at spicemaster@gabesgourmetfoods.com. 

Susan - We are proud to call you Sister!

Omega Chapters is a Blog series from your Alum sisters at Sigma Psi Sigma. There are countless chapters we experience throughout our lives and sharing our experiences is a great way to relate to each other. To be clear: No toxic positivity allowed and no humble brags. Shameless brags are perfectly fine! The goal is to connect and inspire.

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