Stephanie Stark

I'm Stephanie Stark and I'm a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, visual artist, writer, and part time vigilante. While I was still learning my words, I would draw and draw instead of paying attention during class. It was then I discovered my passion for art. I attended  Old Donation Center for the gifted in visual arts, and witchcraft and wizardry in fourth to eighth grade. Old Donation Center provided me with further knowledge and experience with mediums and techniques. Here is where I began to discover my style and mediums of preference. 

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My early years also consisted of discovery, particularly Ireland. I was fascinated with the culture, folklore, fairytales, and mythology. My art focused around mythological creatures such as dragons and fairies. Emphasis on the fairies. I was also determined to one day travel to Ireland. At ten years old, I promised myself I would make it there one day.

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Before I reached middle school, I was diagnosed with Cushings Disease; a rare condition (one in a million children are diagnosed) that effects the endocrine system. I had a tumor on my pituitary gland and at the age of eleven, I had brain surgery. Through recovery, in and out of the hospital, art was always my home and center of self. It was my therapy. For years, through the symptoms even before I was diagnosed, art gave me an outlet of expression and a different mirror for people to see me that wasn't physical. 

 

Like any other fourteen-year-old girl, I refused to watch Twilight or read the books that my friends were so adamant on getting me to read (haha just kidding, I was of the minority). Until my step-sister made me go and see it with her did I become one of the majority to read the series. I read it in a week. All four books. I fell in love with reading and writing again. I rediscovered a bunch of stories I wrote when I was younger, and began writing my own story after that. My best friend, Saipriya, is a huge reason for that. She encouraged me, and while she is no longer with us, I owe her everything. 

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At the tail end of my eighth grade year, I was accepted into the Visual and Performing Arts Academy at Salem High after a tri-wizard tournament. The academy was one of the best decisions I have ever made. My teachers were the best of the best and pushed me out of my comfort zones and beyond my limits. In spite of my hatred for painting, I was forced to work with it anyways. I certainly was drinking some haterade for acrylic paint at that time. I always preferred pencil; black, white, and every shade in between. Every once in a while I would dabble in water color just to shake, shake, shake it up. The academy introduced me to oil paints, where I found another love. 

 

 After twelve years of Azkaban, I escaped in 2013 and continued my art career in college with a minor in visual arts from Old Dominion University. But ultimately fell in love with the English language and literature, leading me to a Bachelor’s degree in English with emphasis in creative writing and superheroes.

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During my senior year, the semester I was to graduate, I got re-diagnosed with Cushings Disease, as the tumor had grown back slowly over the course of eleven years. I traveled to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland for testing and research for the doctors there. I wanted to be of any help for future patients with the disease so they could find a better way to cure it or a better understanding for it. The surgeons also looked at my MRI and told me they would get most of the tumor, not all. Fast forward to August of that year (2017), a few miracles, a dash of witchy spells, and just a pinch of super powers later, they got all of the tumor out because it moved away from my arteries and blood vessels. 

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Throughout my college career I traveled to many places in the United States and to Ireland in 2016. After being re-diagnosed with Cushings, my Gram passing (all within one week), and my job that I loved firing me nine days after being released from the hospital, I felt trapped and lost. The only peace I had was through art and writing. Both brought me up off my knees and got me to where I am today. I also had to remember that with everything going on my senior year I maintained Dean's List, graduated, traveled, and kept my head above water, even if it was just barely. 

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My next chapter was 2018 where I vouched to try new things, travel the world, and begin and finish projects I have wanted to do for years. I have two bachelor's (English and Psychology) and am attending Edinburgh Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland for a MA in Writing. And now here we are. 

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In my free time I'm working on a story that I started a decade ago and keep changing so who knows if it will actually be complete, but it's the year to try. I fancy bunnies, pink, mermaids, and procrastination. 

 

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