9/11: Arizona woman says a career change may have saved her life

PHOENIX - As the U.S. gets close to the 22nd anniversary of one of the darkest days in the country's history, a woman who now lives in the Phoenix area says a career change may have saved her life on that fateful day.

Both Suzanne DeStefano and her husband worked in the World Trade Center in 2001, and on Sept. 6, 2023, she is finally opening up with her story.

"My last day in the Trade Center was July 11, 2001, two months before the attacks," said DeStefano.

Prior to her career change, DeStefano worked for a Fortune 500 company on the 99th floor of the WTC, and her husband worked across from her.

"He worked on the 101st floor. I was in World Trade Center 1, he was in World Trade Center 2, so we used to joke that we could wave, even though you couldn't really see through the windows," said DeStefano,

Their days of taking 10-minute elevator rides to work ended when DeStefano decided it was time to move out of New York to pursue teaching.

On Sept. 11, 2001, DeStefano was in her classroom when first heard about the terrorist attacks.

Smoke pours from the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001. (Photo by Fabina Sbina/ Hugh Zareasky/Getty Images)

"I think shocked is the only word that can describe how I felt that day," said DeStefano.

All these years later, it remains difficult for DeStefano to reflect on a time when she lost so many colleagues and loved ones.

"My brother-in-law was in the New York Police Department. He was a captain, and so, I was getting a lot of information through him and things that were going on, and my husband's cousin was a firefighter. He perished that day also. And then, trickling reports of Leslie had passed away, Gary had passed away, and Ken had passed away."

DeStefano thanks teaching for leading her to Peoria, where she raised her three kids and continued her profession in education. Nowadays, she is the headmaster at Great Hearts Archway Glendale Academy.

"Arizona has given us a very wonderful life," said DeStefano, who also said the WTC has significant memories for her, besides the friends she made at work who did not survive. The place was where she met her husband, and also where her husband proposed to her.