For over a decade, she has advocated for developing the next generation of leaders and served as a champion for small businesses and equity in our community. She is consistently engaged in her local community — she was a digital organizer for Census 2020 and during the Pandemic has continued to help her neighbors through PPE distributions, vaccine preparation and clinics. When Winter Storm Uri hit, she stepped up to aid and host supply drives, and helped feed fellow Austinites.
Stephanie has been a communications professional for more than fifteen years and is currently the Chief Communications Officer at the law firm Schulman, Lopez, Hoffer & Adelstein. She previously served as the Director of Communications & Programs for the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where she advocated for small and minority owned businesses and positively impacted the lives of many leaders through her elevation of the nationally ranked Hispanic Austin Leadership program.
Early in her career, Stephanie served as Marketing Director for LifeWorks, where she oversaw community outreach initiatives and worked alongside her colleagues towards the goal of making youth homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring. She later taught at St Edward’s University, her alma mater, where she further lived out the university’s mission of analyzing problems, proposing solutions and acting on her responsibility to the community.
Her first formal service was in Girl Scouts which she joined as a Brownie and went on to earn the Silver Award. She serves in a leadership capacity on numerous boards for Austin-based non-profit agencies and volunteers for organizations related to youth and education.
She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Austin Community Foundation Hispanic Impact Fund, and is the 2021-22 Grant Chair who will lead the effort to grant funds to local nonprofits that focus on advancing the health, educational and economic well-being of Hispanics in Central Texas. Stephanie also serves on the board of The Junior League of Austin (JLA), a non-profit of 2500 dynamic women. This year JLA is supporting 30 non-profit partners and will also serve the community through Coats for Kids which supplies winter coats to 30,000 Central Texas children each year; Food In Tummies which provides weekend nourishment to children; and other signature programs. Stephanie is a graduate of Leadership Austin, past president of the St. Edward’s University Alumni Association, chapter member of the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas and the LBJ Future Forum, a public policy discussion forum.
Stephanie grew up in South Austin, and she credits her parents as well as her long affiliation with the Girl Scouts, for setting her up for success in life. Her father, a baker and restaurant worker, taught her determination and to work hard and her mother taught her to read and instilled in her a lifelong love of learning. Stephanie attended Austin ISD schools and is a proud St. Elmo Mighty Mustang, Porter Panther and Crockett Cougar. She is a first generation college student and attended St. Edward’s University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree while also working at her neighborhood grocery store. She later earned her master’s degree from the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom and in November 2021 graduated from the LBJ Women’s Campaign School at the University of Texas School of Public Affairs.
Stephanie and her husband Matt, an educator, live in South Austin with their two kids, Bastian and Elena, and two rescue pups, Penney & Pongo. They enjoy playing soccer together (#DaleATX) and love living room dance parties and going on adventures in the city.
