Stephanie C. Roberts Biography
Tracing Roots
Stephanie Roberts began to draw at the age of two. Her maternal great-grandfather, Armenag Vartanian, was an artist, as was her grandmother, Mary Vartanian Murphy. By age seven, Stephanie became enamored with her first camera, crafting clever compositions with classmates during recess. She followed her passion and commitment to art throughout her youth, and became intrigued with darkroom photography by her junior year in high school.
Broadening Perspectives and Expanding Skills
At the University of Georgia, Stephanie majored in Interdisciplinary Studies. With a focus on Scientific Illustration, her classes included a mix of biological sciences and fine art. Still immersed in realism, her artwork was precise and extremely detailed. Nearing her senior year, two art instructors shaped the future of Stephanie's art. Bill Paul taught her that compelling art need not represent something you can see, but something you can feel. And Dr. Robert Nix introduced her to the fine art of photography. Using a pinhole camera she created in class, Stephanie cultivated a style for infusing realistic images with a bit of purposeful abstraction. Eager for real-world career experience, she interned with Medical Legal Illustrations and eventually A.D.A.M. (Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine) Software in Atlanta, during summer breaks from college.
Learning the Art of Business
Upon receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Stephanie began her career in interactive design and development at A.D.A.M. Software. Working with founder, Greg Swayne, and creative software genius Dan Backus, she became intrigued with user interface design and technology. While pursuing her career as a Product Manager for the creation of human anatomy and physiology CD-Rom titles, she continued to shoot film with a Minolta SLR and sold several prints from images captured on business trips to Japan and Germany.
In early 1996, Stephanie left A.D.A.M. to become the Director of Product Development for Mindspring Enterprises (now Earthlink) before seeking out more creativity in her career. By the Spring, she formed a partnership with James Harris to create Elemental Interactive, a web-based communications, design and development firm, supporting clients such as IBM, Pfizer, The Coca-Cola Company, Turner Network Television, Aflac, Avaya, Macromedia (now Adobe), Edelman, Georgia-Pacific, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and many others. In 1999, at the height of the dot com era, she participated in the sale of Elemental Interactive to Grey Global Group, and continued to lead account management, creative strategy and content development for the company’s growing corporate client base.
Expanding Creativity Through Technology
By 2000, inspired by the birth of her first child, Stephanie began to express her creativity in the form of large abstract paintings on canvas – representing the beginning of a return to her roots in fine art. Following the death of her mother one year later, she began to journal. By 2006, Stephanie’s images and words merged with the creation of Cool People I Know – a personal blog featuring creative essays, photography, poetry, audio interviews and digital videos receiving more than 66,000 page views within twelve months. Intrigued by the power of social media, she created a public Life List wiki and cultivated a community of several hundred contributors in this space as a companion to the blog.
While continuing her role as partner with Elemental Interactive, she provided social media consulting and led the content strategy and execution of audio podcast series under the company’s ListenShare brand. Stephanie has conducted audio interviews with noted individuals including: Arianna Huffington, founder of the Huffington Post; Guy Kawasaki, author of The Art of the Start and founder of Garage Technology Ventures and Alltop; Keri Smith, illustrator and author of Living Out Loud and Wreck this Journal; Penelope Trunk, author and founder of BrazenCareerist.com; Rick Smolan, well-known photojournalist and creator of photography books including America At Home, A Day in the Life Series, 24 Hours in Cyberspace and many others.
Returning to Roots and Planting Seeds
Stephanie renewed her love for photography with the purchase of a Nikon digital SLR in 2007 and left her twelve-year partnership with Elemental Interactive on December 31, 2008 to launch her own business, LittlePurpleCow Productions to focus on documentary photography and mixed media productions. She is a partner and contributing writer/photographer for Shutter Sisters, a global online community of women photographers, volunteers for her local community Art Guild, and is a member of the Atlanta Photography Group and the American Society of Media Photographers.
As an emerging photographer, Stephanie is beginning to exhibit her work publicly. In Spring 2009, the Monroe Art Guild in Monroe, Georgia hosted Stephanie's first solo exhibit featuring her year-long series titled: Project 365: Daily Discoveries. In October 2009, Stephanie exhibited a selection of images from this series at Harris & Clark in Serenbe, in conjunction with Atlanta Celebrates Photography (ACP). Several images from her Picture Hope series were exhibited in the Mom 2.0 Exhibit held at FotoFest Gallery in Houston, TX during February 2010.
Stephanie was one of 52 photographers from 17 states selected to participate in the ACP11 Portfolio Review and Walk on October 10, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia, and was most recently selected to participate in the 6th Annual powerHouse Portfolio Review held on February 26, 2010 in New York. She's won several awards for her photography.
In May 2009, Stephanie and fellow Shutter Sister, Jen Lemen, won the “Name Your Dream Assignment” global photography competition sponsored by Lenovo and Microsoft. This award sends the two women on a journey around the world through August 2010 to capture and share images and stories of hope. The inspiration for their travel destinations include former modern day slaves, genocide survivors, young activists, old visionaries and new immigrants. This body of images and video will become a visual catalog for our hopeful world. Learn more about Picture Hope.
Stephanie is a contributing author to Kirtsy Takes a Bow, "an artful collection of writings, photography, tweets, websites, online stores, and other creations -- the inspirations of more than 100 social media leaders, entrepreneurs and artists" published by Bright Sky Press, and Expressive Photography: A Shutter Sisters Guide to Shooting from the Heart published by Focal Press in the U.S. and Ilex Press in the U.K.
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Interviews and Features
Jen Lemen's Interview with Stephanie Roberts on BlogHer
Photographer Davina Fear's Women and Business Series Interview with Stephanie Roberts
Tracey Clark's "Picture Hope" on the Huffington Post
Laurie White's "Picturing Hope – Shutter Sisters Win Microsoft Dream Assignment" on BlogHer
"Local Shutter Bug to Capture 'Hope'" in the Walton Tribune
Picture Hope Live Chat from Rwanda Featured on The Motherhood
Image and Essay by Stephanie Roberts Featured on Photographer Robert Matre's Photo of the Day
Picture Hope featured in the Microsoft Photography Blog
Picture Hope featured in the Microsoft Photography Gallery
iPhoneography by Stephanie Roberts featured on the Ovation TV Blog
"The BlogHer'10 Conference - Women Power Up" by Marcia G. Yerman on Huffington Post