About

Stephanie (she/her) is a 19-year-old college student based in Richmond, Virginia, where her work centers the intersections Black feminism and womanism have with police and prison abolition. Police abolition and prison abolition is at the core of Stephanie’s work, and it is heavily influenced by her upbringing in Henrico County, the demonization she dealt with as a young Black girl in school, and the policing and criminalization she experienced as she struggled with her mental health. When she was 14, she channeled that trauma into writing, working with other Black youth (at Richmond Youth Peace Project) to apply conflict resolution to address harm and violence, and creating the Black feminist collective community in 2017. Stephanie’s upbringing is not without privilege, and she believes that it’s imperative to commit herself to abolition by working with other Black youth and centering their voices to dismantle the youth prison system (RISE For Youth), to abolish the police and invest in transformative ways to address harm and violence. Her words have also appeared on Black Youth Project, Richmond Times-Dispatch, RVA Magazine, and the Fall 2019 Issue of Sesi Magazine.