With roots in South Memphis, Stephanie was born in the early 80's to two musicians. Being raised by artists afforded her the opportunity to encounter individuals from many walks of life and learn the importance of walking in authenticity and "meeting people where they are". 

While spending evenings and weekends in jam sessions and rehearsals with legends like Al Green and cousin Rufus Thomas, Stephanie excelled during the week at Alcy Elementary and then Bellevue Junior High. A natural scholar, it was an easy choice for her to attend Overton High School of the Performing Arts. Under the tutelage of Dr. Lulah Hedgeman, Stephanie majored in Vocal Performance as a Honors student. 

In her senior year, she received the William H. Sweet Award for being one of the few graduating seniors in the City of Memphis with a peerless honor roll history. Stephanie attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and the University of Memphis for undergraduate studies, receiving a BA (Public Relations) from the latter in 2002. Stephanie also holds a MS (Health Administration) from UTK. 

While working as an Operations Manager for an insurance company in 2009, a mentor suggested she explore project management as a next step. In 2011, Stephanie accepted her first project management position with Qualifacts, Inc, a behavioral healthcare software company in Nashville. Over the next 9 years, Stephanie led large scale projects within the healthcare and financial space which grew her knowledge and passion around health and socioeconomic disparities, particularly in the African American community.

 A year-long fellowship with Ascension Health in 2014, gifted the experience of leveraging claims data to drive health outcomes through a new population health model. It was made ever clearer to her how broken the American healthcare system is and how it had been superpowered by capitalism and systemic racism. Using her personal and professional experiences, she developed a keen interest in addressing mental health awareness and activation, chronic disease management and infant mortality rates. 

Stephanie current role is with USAA as a Lead Program Manager for the Chief Risk Office. She returned to Memphis in 2017 and resides in East Buntyn with her husband, Cornell, and four-legged child, Hendrix. Stephanie is an active member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Memphis Alumnae Chapter).

To find out more about our program visit www.thefearlesscampaign.com