If you think this is Stephanie’s first rodeo with the cooperative movement, think again. Her love for cooperatives started when she became a credit union member at a young age. She then lived in coops while in college at UW-Madison, she continues to purchase her groceries at local coops, and now works at Filene, an organization supporting cooperatives in the financial industry.
Just as the cooperative movement is focused on the community, so has Stephanie’s career. Prior to joining Filene, Stephanie was an AmeriCorps – VISTA and founded a nonprofit called Eat for Equity in 2011. This is where she found a passion for throwing events and building communities around ideas which led her to Next Generation Consulting where she worked in events, communications and project management. While at Next Generation Consulting she first partnered with Filene to help build a future lab around incubation and i3 in 2017.
It became clear to Stephanie that Filene was the cool, purpose-driven organization she was looking for. Her time with Filene started as a contract worker supporting our innovative events and now she takes on the role as Project Manager to support our incubator during a time when it is growing and gaining momentum. She is most excited to see how the work being done in the incubator will help the credit union movement get stronger and stronger.
With a Lebanese and Swedish family heritage – two strong food cultures to draw on – it is no wonder her food continues to make us all drool at Filene. Her three cats and dog are well taken care of thanks to her veterinarian wife, Kelly. And, if you ever doubted her love for the state of WI, just ask her to show you the tattoo on her right arm.