Laura Sussman was born March 26, 1956 in Cleveland, Ohio where there was a robust Jewish community. She moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1997. The Jewish Community Center (JCC) hired her as its first executive director. She was a director for eight years, then executive director at Temple Beth Sholom. Sussman met her wife, Wendy Kraft, through their work with the JCC and love followed. Several years later, in 2009, so did their new business, Kraft-Sussman Funeral and Cremation services.