Stephanie is a Denver-based freelance journalist and audio producer with a focus on documentary and narrative work. Prior to going independent in early 2023, she spent nearly a decade in public radio with NPR member stations, largely covering the arts and culture beat with an eye toward labor and equity issues.
It was in her hometown of Atlanta, Ga. that Stephanie set her sights on her first professional pursuit: ballet. She went on to have a decade-plus dance career with companies like Minnesota Ballet, James Sewell Ballet, The Metropolitan Opera, Ballet Montana and Wonderbound, formerly Ballet Nouveau Colorado. Stephanie got her start in public media at Colorado Public Radio, working as a producer and reporter for CPR News’ flagship show, Colorado Matters, as well as the arts reporter for several years. She moved to Louisville, Ky. in early 2020 to cover arts, culture and religion for NPR member station Louisville Public Media. There she also helped cover major new events, including a pandemic-era Kentucky Derby, protests against police brutality, and the aftermath of weather-related disasters, including the 2021 tornadoes in west Kentucky and devastating flooding the following year in eastern Kentucky.
In 2021, she spent several months in Germany as an Arthur F. Burns Fellow through the International Center for Journalists. Much of her reporting abroad resulted in an hourlong radio documentary called “A Critical Moment,” an examination of how the U.S. and Germany teach school children about their country’s past atrocities, and why. It won a 2023 RIAS Media Prize for “Best in Radio,” an Education Writers Association (EWA) Award for “Best in Audio Storytelling/Smaller Newsrooms” and a regional Murrow Award for “Best News Documentary.”
Stephanie has also contributed reporting and producing to outlets like NPR, Here & Now, NPR Music, PRI’s The World, Podcast Allies, The Texas Tribune, Whistledown Productions, The Colorado Sun, Boulder Reporting Lab, Gist Healthcare Daily and KEXP.
(Photo by Jim Hill)
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