Issue 15: Stephanie - Founder of Vision of Representation

Representation means everything to Stephanie. It is what motivates her to become a better version of herself every day. The first time she understood the power of this concept was when watching Miss Universe 2016. At that time, she was competing for the title of Miss Teen Quebec 2016, which she later won that year. She decided to open the TV one night where Miss Universe was playing. She had already heard of it, but never watched it. The representative for Canada in that year was Siera Bearchell, and she was a size 6-8, which was something unseen in the pageant world. Sierra ended up going all the way to the top 9, receiving the best score in Swimsuit. This motivated Stephanie and proved to her that she was just as worthy, and beautiful than any other women, as she was finally seeing her body size represented on the Miss Universe stage. That is the power of representation. It can give the confidence in someone to tell themselves that if this person can, than they can do it as well. This has later motivated Stephanie to compete internationally in Las Vegas at the Miss Teen Continents pageant in 2018, where she rocked the stage in all her confidence in a swimsuit, like there was no tomorrow.

In 2018, Stephanie also completed her first short documentary, earning her an excellence in filmmaking award for the film "We have our Future". This film represented her twin 28 year old cousins that are diagnosed with the Andermann syndrome. This syndrome affects their muscles and brain, which confines them to a wheelchair and limited control of their speech and movement. Stephanie grew up with these women and has always seen their value past the fact that they had a disability. That is why she decided to show a positive documentary about what these women are ABLE to do, instead of focusing on the negative side of their diagnosis. These women have shown me so much, and were two important people that taught me the importance of representation and helped her understand disability as beautiful too. This heartfelt documentary shows the value of family and the little things in life that we should enjoy. If you’d like, you can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R5iBsGX5sg&t=2s

The third encounter that Stephanie had with representation was when she started working with the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network (LERRN), alongside starting her double major degree in communications and media studies, and film studies in 2019. LERRN is a research network that collaborates with refugees to create knowledge made with and for refugees. The goal of doing this is to change the narrative by having refugees affect their own policies, in order to create substantial change for them, as they know best what they need most. Stephanie’s skill in filmmaking are used at her job to capture the stories of our partners, in order to promote diversity and inclusion of refugees in policy making discussions. This work has proven the importance of representation, as it has influenced countries like Kenya, the United Kingdom, Canada and Tanzania, to change the way the interact and include refugees.

Pursuing a degree in communications and film has allowed Stephanie to open her eyes to world issues, and question the importance of representation in the media. This knowledge has sparked her interest and has motivated her to start a documentary series called Vision of Representation in the beginning of the pandemic in May 2020. This series was made to give a platform for people to tell their stories in a safe place where people are open to listen and become more open towards the hardships, livelihoods and opinions that other people have. Through a year of releasing episodes every week, Stephanie has learned and educated herself through these stories, which helped her to become a better version of herself every day, as she chooses to be conscious, rather than ignorant, of other people’s experiences.

Stephanie wants to make an impact in the world of representation, because she believes that it will help create a better world. She believes that if everyone would be attentive to listening to others, we would all become more loving and accepting towards them, because we will know what they have been through. We are in the world where there is so much judgement against others, but if people choose to listen, maybe they wouldn’t be so judgemental and choose to hurt the people different to them. By creating a message of love and understanding between one another, Stephanie truly thinks that this could be the way to become one people, instead of being in a world that has so much hatred.

With that said, representation can also inspire people to go after their dreams. By seeing someone else succeed in the job that they aspire to be in, it encourages them that they can do it too. For example, Stephanie dreams to win an Oscar in directing one day. However, only two woman have achieved that status, and only seven women have been nominated in this category with over 93 editions of the Oscars. This low representation of women in this male dominated industry might discourage many that would want to be part of this industry. But seeing that Kathering Bigalow, and Chloe Zhao succeeded proves that it is possible. Just that possibility and representation motivates Stephanie to continue her dreams and passions to become a filmmaker, and strive for the Oscar that she so much wishes to have. One day, she wants to be part of the names of women that have been nominated and that have won in this category to keep spreading the message that women are just as much needed and worthy in this industry than men. Without representation in all spheres (jobs, entertainment, media), how can we prove to ourselves that we are worthy and not alone, and become more understanding human beings towards people that are different than us? That is why representation is so important, and why we must strive for diversity and inclusion in everywhere.

Stephanie has a notebook filled with ideas of films that she would love to make. Funny enough, most of these stories have to do with representation. Have you ever seen a romance movie with people with a disability? Have you ever seen a blockbuster film about the true story behind indigenous colonization from the perspective of indigenous peoples? Have you ever seen a film about pageant women that actually shows that they are not dumb women competing? Have you ever seen a film about the perspective of the Germans being brainwashed in the 2nd world war? If so, there are not many. These are only a few of the ideas that Stephanie dreams about putting into life with the consultation of people that are part of these groups, so that they are represented and included in the creative process of making a film, and they are not painted by ignorance and privilege. Representation in feature films allows people to educate themselves on various stories, and also recognize themselves and empathize with the characters they get to meet. This kind of representation is so important, and is why Stephanie strives to create movies in the first place. Through Stephanie’s series Vision of Representation, she has learned the value of sharing these stories, and hopes to continue doing the same in her future career. She also wants to spread the importance of representation on the national and international stage as she competes for Miss Galaxy Canada 2022 in August 2021 (and hopefully Miss Galaxy 2022). This pageant’s value align with Stephanies’ as they strive for diversity and inclusion by accepting women of all ages, colours, heights, pasts, or shapes, and sizes.

Stephanie is a hardworking women that strives to always become a better version of herself. She gained that drive through pageantry, and she is so grateful for the strong and empowering women that she met through this. This couldn’t have been possible without her past. As a child, Stephanie was bullied which has left many mental and physical scars, which created repercussions later in her life. When she was at the depths of her depression, she decided to go to a therapist, which suggested to her that she should start something new. That something new was cheerleading, and later pageantry. Without these hardships, she would never be where she is today. This is to say that although Stephanie is very strong, confident, and driven now, she was not always like this. By sharing this story, she hopes to inspire others in saying that they are not alone, and they can accomplish anything they set out to do. It takes a long time, and not all days are perfect, but it is worth it to do the journey to go where you want to be. Overall, her message is to be open to learn, listen to stories whether by text or by video, and share your own stories to others so that they can learn from you too, because everyone has something valuable and important to say.