Born in Kansas, USA, Stephanie has been dancing since the wee age of four and has trained at dance schools in Kansas City, New York City, Chicago, and Las Vegas. It was apparent early on that dance would be an integral part of her life.

Moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, at the age of 18, Stephanie began her professional dancing career - performing at the prestigious Westward Ho and Union Plaza hotels on the Las Vegas Boulevard and downtown Las Vegas. Since living in New Zealand, she has been performing, teaching, and choreographing in both the North and South islands since 2002.

While living in Auckland, Stephanie taught American Jazz at City Dance studio. She also became involved in Musical Theatre in 2003 and performed in musicals including A Chorus Line, Westside Story, and Copacabana before turning her talents to the other side of the stage to choreograph musicals such as Big River, Paris, Fame, and Tommy.

After moving to Christchurch, Stephanie discovered Nia and trained the White Belt intensive with Nia Black Belt Teacher Trainer, Ken Gilbert in October 2009. Dance has always brought enormous joy to her life and teaching is her way to share this joy with others. In July 2010, she travelled to Portland, Oregon, USA to train the Green Belt Intensive, a belt specifically designed for teachers focusing on the craft of teaching Nia, with Nia co-creator, Carlos AyaRosas.

Stephanie has since trained the Blue Belt (2011), Brown Belt (2014), Black Belt (2016), First Degree Black Belt (2018), and Second Degree Black Belt (2019), all at Nia Headquarters in Portland, Oregon.

In September 2019, Stephanie was invited to become a Nia Third Generation White Belt Trainer and is currently undertaking her Trainer education under the direction of Nia co-creator, Debbie Rosas.

Stephanie teaches Group Centergy, one of the fitness programmes created by MOSSA based in the USA. Group Centergy is a delightful fusion of yoga and Pilates fundamentals and is a beautiful complement to her Nia practice. It is also what's triggered her desire to deepen her yoga practice and after rigorous study over two years, she has a Yoga Teaching Diploma through International Yoga Teachers Association (New Zealand).