Hello!
As a dynamic and versatile social change practitioner, my expertise spans research, education, and nonprofit leadership. This website highlights my research contributions.
An agile and resourceful researcher, I thrive in navigating diverse fields, generating robust data and meaningful insights using a range of methodological approaches to tackle complex challenges:
- In depth, qualitative and quantitative academic studies
- Analysis of global trends for data visualisation initiatives
- Market data for startups in a range of industries
- Data storytelling for corporate communications campaigns
Recommendations
I had the privilege of serving as Stephanie's academic supervisor for her PhD at the University of York. I found her to be a person of the utmost integrity, dedicated to her research, and with an unwavering commitment to equality, social justice, and human rights. Stephanie has exceptional communication skills (both oral and written), which is attested to by the fact that she received highly competitive national funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to support her doctoral research. I have found Stephanie to be kind, a diligent seeker of truth, and an advocate for a better world. I highly recommend her to you.
Claire Chambers, Professor of Global Literature, University of York
Stephanie is one of the sharpest people I've had the chance to work with in my career. In her Chief of Staff role I've experienced her strategic and operational skillsets both in building an organization's systems as well as developing its people and culture. She is quick to build, highly empathetic, and a fast learner. I would highly recommend her to lead cross-functional teams and contribute her communication skills to any fast-moving organization.
Meghan Easley, Head of Operations, Sol
I am delighted to provide my wholehearted recommendation for Stephanie as an outstanding professional and invaluable asset to Justice Defenders. Throughout her tenure as Chief of Staff, Stephanie has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a profound commitment to our mission. Her ability to inspire and motivate teams has resulted in significant improvements in operational efficiency and overall effectiveness. Stephanie possesses a unique blend of interpersonal skills and acumen, which enables her to foster collaboration among diverse teams and stakeholders. Her clear communication style and approachable demeanour make her approachable to staff at all levels. She actively cultivates a positive work culture that promotes innovation and inclusivity. In addition to her exceptional operational capabilities, Stephanie has a keen understanding of the NGO landscape. She has forged strong partnerships with other organisations, donors, and government agencies. Her networking skills have resulted in increased funding opportunities and expanded our reach in critical areas of our mission. Above all, Stephanie is deeply committed to the values and objectives of Justice Defenders. Her ethical leadership and genuine passion for making a difference have been a source of inspiration for our entire team.
Markus Hesse, Chief Operating Officer, Justice Defenders
Stephanie leads and operates with such a unique combination of skills and style:
- She is the epitome professional, but is also warm, engaging, and a natural connector.
- She is a brilliant - effective, efficient, & winsome - communicator whether with words or graphics - lending strength and credibility to anything she authors, edits or presents. She thrives in 1:1 connection and just as much as the host of a mass meeting.
- She is an eager and energetic learner, thriving in situations where she can lean in for understanding and create and activate new systems, processes and rhythms. She is a practical problem-solver and executor.
- Her research and analytic training and natural abilities are brought to bear via the strategic insight she brings to decisions and execution.
With all of this - Stephanie is a conduit of joy and warmth in the workplace and a delight to serve alongside.
Shelley Thames, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Justice Defenders
Stephanie is one of those rare colleagues, who isn’t only a strategic leader, but who is more than happy to get stuck in and support from the ground up. She is a true joy to work with. Since working with Stephanie, I have seen how she has masterfully identified and constructed the systems, processes and resources needed to build Justice Defenders into a strong, sustainable organisation. She is wonderfully collaborative, regularly involving colleagues and service users from all corners and levels of the organisation to participate in shaping projects and gaining buy in from the outset. I’ve experienced how her breadth of experience in data, research, communications, project management, fundraising and strategy means she’s able to turn her hand to anything and contribute both practical and theoretical expertise. She is one of the most reliable, thoughtful and hardworking people I know and is truly integral to the success of Justice Defenders. I know that any organisation would be incredibly fortunate to have her.
Kirsty Bridger, Communications and Content Lead, Justice Defenders
I am incredibly grateful to Stephanie for all that she taught in my time as her direct report. Her management style is calm, action orientated and is based around clear communication, which I really appreciated. She is incredibly hardworking and always remains calm, and always took time to support and guide me, even in incredibly busy periods. She is knowledgeable and invested in the professional development of her direct reports, and was always happy to share her experience and expertise with me. I really enjoyed working and being managed by Stephanie, I learnt so much from her in a very short time!
Sophie Nedderman, Fundraising and Communications Assistant, Justice Defenders
Stephanie is a fantastically thorough, detailed and resourceful data-researcher. She has been central to Information is Beautiful's biggest visualisation projects of the last five years, diligently supporting even our most-celestial & hubristic ideas with solid data and watertight research. Always eager to learn and to be challenged - and fully topic-agnostic. Happy summarising women farmers rights in sub-Saharan Africa, as she is calculating case fatality rates for obscure infectious diseases. She's also very team- and person- orientated, so would be a sunny addition to any outfit.
David McCandless, owner, Information is Beautiful
I've been working with Stephanie for about five years now, and I can say she's a great researcher. Always able to help the team, finding the right information for our dataviz projects, answering data queries and with a great positive attitude. She's also very good at sketching ideas and supporting the design team with feedback and ideas.
Fabio Bergamaschi, Information Designer, Information is Beautiful
Stephanie and I have worked together for the last 4-5 years since she came onboard. She is incredibly kind, hard working and diligent, leaving no stone unturned in her research. Collaborating with Stephanie is always a pleasure and her output is always top notch, which makes my life as a developer that much easier. 10/10!
Omid Kashan, Designer and Developer, Information is Beautiful
I agree with the student who wrote, "you're a natural". They say good teachers are not born but made but I doubt that in your case. You clearly know how to enthuse the students and make them meet the learning outcomes and gain confidence. It would be great having you teach for us in future. Thank you for your hard work.
Henrice Altink, Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre, University of York
Stephanie was my seminar leader for history during my first year of university. It is not an exaggeration to say she made a huge impact on my time at York. Stephanie is bright and engaging, knowing how to get the best of her students. She made me believe in my ability and would always provide me with detailed feedback and support to help me improve my work. Her ability to facilitate discussion and share knowledge was second to none. Stephanie is a true professional and would be a huge addition to any organisation.
Ben Stuart, student, University of York
She has proved to be a reliable, conscientious, and intelligent individual on whom we, and her pupils, have come to rely. She has used her initiative to investigate, plan, and instigate good learning situations for pupils, drawing out insecure pupils with her carefully crafted work and engaging personality. Her engagement with pupils, staff and procedures needed to effectively support pupils, has been excellent. She has conducted herself in a most professional and organised way. She is intelligent, articulate, and multi-talented.
Ben Paradise, Assistant Head/SENCo, West Park School
Stephanie spent several mornings a week working with the children at the Bushman School at N/a'anku se, where she supervised, assisted and delivered curriculum to children ranging from one to 16 years old. She showed herself to be an excellent communicator, role model and interacted with skill and sensitivity to the Bushman children under her instruction. As teacher at the pre-primary school at N/a'anku se, I had no concern whatsoever leaving children under Stephanie's excellent supervision, allowing her to plan lessons and deliver independently when necessary. Stephanie supported the children both academically and pastorally and I would highly recommend her to any institution working with young people. Stephanie is a reliable and conscientious worker who will bring enthusiasm, vitality and brilliant people skills to any role.
Jill Robson, Teacher, N/a'anku se School