Stephanie is a resident of Lexington, MA, a member of the Lexington Human Rights Committee, and a parent to three children. Stephanie received her Master of Liberal Arts degree from Winthrop University and in her previous life worked for a large consulting firm for Big Brothers Big Sisters Independence Region.
In 2017, she took her first Active Bystander Training at Christ Revolution Church that was co-sponsored by the Lexington Human Rights Committee and Lexington Interfaith Clergy Association. The reasons she took the training and became a trainer remain the same today as they did four years ago: because when faced with any form of bias or hate we don’t always know how to take action and defuse the situation to help the target. As a person who does their best to avoid confrontation, Active Bystander training empowered Stephanie to find her voice by providing her the language and tools to safely intervene when witnessing harm doing.
Stephanie has gained much from becoming a TAB trainer and an Instructor continues to learn from every training she gives both in person and virtually. But one of the greatest gains that it has given her is the opportunity to teach her children the importance of standing up for others, whether they do so in the moment or seek out the help and support of an adult or authority figure after the fact.
In the words of John Lewis, “When you see something that is not right, not fair, or not just, you have a moral obligation to do something or say something about it.”