About Stephanie
I am a communication scholar, educator, and consultant with a long-standing interest in how people make meaning, exercise voice, and claim presence through communication. Across my research, teaching, and applied work, I focus on helping individuals and communities communicate with clarity, credibility, and intention—especially in moments that feel high-stakes or consequential.
My academic training and professional experience are rooted in communication studies, with particular emphasis on public speaking, media, and digital communication. As a scholar, my research examines how power, identity, and participation are shaped through mediated discourse, including digital activism, platformed publics, and the performative dimensions of communication in online environments. I am especially interested in how communication practices are influenced by technological systems and social contexts, and how people navigate these structures to express values, build collective identity, and mobilize action.
My scholarship has appeared in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes across communication, media studies, and critical pedagogy. While theoretically grounded, my work is consistently motivated by real-world communication challenges—how people speak up, how messages circulate, and why some voices are amplified while others are constrained.
Teaching has been a central and deeply meaningful part of my career. I have taught courses in public speaking, professional communication, and media studies, and I am known for an evidence-based, student-centered approach that treats confidence and presence as skills that can be learned rather than traits people either possess or lack. My pedagogy emphasizes ethical persuasion, message clarity, and adaptability across contexts, helping students develop communication practices that are both effective and authentic.
In addition to my academic work, I am the founder of SpeakWell Studio, a communication consulting and coaching practice that translates research into practical tools for individuals, teams, and organizations. Through workshops, training programs, and one-on-one coaching, I work with clients to strengthen executive presence, refine messaging, and communicate with confidence in professional and public-facing settings. SpeakWell is grounded in the same principles that inform my teaching and scholarship: clarity over performance, alignment over dominance, and communication as a learnable, ethical practice.
At the core of my work is a commitment to integration rather than compartmentalization. I do not see research, teaching, and consulting as separate endeavors, but as mutually reinforcing ways of engaging with the same fundamental questions: How do we speak in ways that matter? How do we show up without shrinking or performing? And how can communication be used not only to persuade, but to build trust, understanding, and agency?
Whether I am writing, teaching, or working directly with clients, my goal is the same: to help people master their message and strengthen their presence in ways that feel grounded, intentional, and true to who they are.
