Meet Stephany Welch

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Stephany Welch. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Stephany below.

Stephany, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

The short answer is by fighting my insecurities.
The long answer is because at times on my journey, I’ve felt defeated, as if I did not have one to grow with, in the act of battling debilitating anxiety.
In the sixth grade, I often assisted the special education program with their students.
I will never forget the day a knock was at my classroom door and the teacher asked my teacher if I could join her and the SpeD students to support them.
My teacher let me go.
In that moment I received a gift.
I stood up alone and walked out the door to what I believe was a destiny into acts of service, compassion for others that are different than what was then considered the norm, and; advocacy for youth & community development. On another school day, the awareness of being the only kid pushing a wheelchair with a student riding it around the yard at recess, haunts me with heaven! Passing by the basketball courts, relay race, tetherball games and kids play sets. I softy embodied living amongst groups, in a world of my own, and in that world, others needs mattered.
The saving grace through extreme criticism in my head was the voice of reason my father spoke, volumes of leadership instincts into me.
My “Diamond Dad.”
He transitioned when I was 25-years-old.
I am now 43 years young. Though what feels aged about my life is the saying “patience is a virtue,” from my father words flowing with my obstacles of trials, oh so lengthy, in tribulations.
When I was a transitional aged youth I told my father, “You should have wrote a book.”
I did not say, “Dad you should write a book.”
His response, “Yeah I should have.”
We both remained silent for a short period of time as he sat in a chair typing a document and I sat on the other side of his desk observing him.
When he left this Earth, I believed I could write us a book.
After-all, he was a talented writer of business and entrepreneurial content.
The strong critic in my head, from an early age only seemed to shut up when I was either using my imagination or believing in the power of someone else’s story.
So what could have been a destiny on my father’s journey, merged with mine, as I now lived in a world of my own without my father physically nearby to support building within those big walls that I dreamed to splatter with awe and wonder.
By the time, I was in my early thirties I was bagging groceries in a small town that I had no prior knowledge of as a San Francisco Bay Area born girl.
But there I was.
During this era, youth development organizations gave back to me what I began in the sixth grade cultivating for the inner me to find a better world outside of me.
Now I was working with three different types of groups of young minds.
High schoolers, a next generation faith-based ministry and early childhood education for home schooled kids.
The sole wheelchair I was pushing, was a spiritual version of my own learning how to pace God’s educational love into me, to truly discover a purpose that was God given and special.
In 2016, I began working for a girl’s educational center in Alameda county.
I was out of the small town, though only workforce based, still renting an apartment there, yet, I had returned to my roots in the Bay.
Can you say purpose-driven, LOUDLY ?
I commuted give or take 5 hours round trip each workday to serve as a literacy intervention program leader.
Here is where books, youth and collective agreement merged within my goals. To publish my own work, find purpose in my pain and honor my father’s legacy. These fought to bury the critic and stomp on how I hoped to put anxiety into an early grave.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am so proud to be the outreach manager at Life Learning Academy (LLA). If I told you 20 something years ago, as I washed dishes in the final home my family all lived together before my father transitioned. I used to stare out of the kitchen window with a view of the San Francisco Bay, where I could see Treasure Island. This is where LLA is located and was in the infantry stages of creating a foundation at that time.
I would pray for God to expose me to vast opportunities and beautiful people, places and things.
I truly believe that the obstacles flowing with trials and lengthy tribulations, that I have faced and endured prepared me for this professional juncture that is worth so much more than a just a title. On my first day of onboarding as someone described the demographic of the youths, I got super weepy!
I had been on a decade long journey of youth development but had not worked with a population largely affected by homelessness, physical, emotional, sexual abuse and lower socially economic barriers quite to this extent.
At LLA, we serve high schoolers aged 14-18, with a small comprehensive program and wraparound supports. Two of my biggest responsibilities are to be a presence in the community to recruit students & their families and to build workforce partnerships with local organizations to host an intern for early job training. I love communicating with the public in order to bring further awareness to an incredible resource full of second chances and positive transformation.
In 2017, I published my first nonfiction book, “And I’m Thinking: A Collection of WTF’s.” 103 real-life stories about probably most popular topics under the sun.
At the end of the year 2024, I published my first novel, Unfortunately Marvelous. A story about self-discovery for a young woman that grew up in a “small dead town.”

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1) My ability to go within, turn down the volume of distractions and self-reflect.
2) Empathy for others. I always say, “You never know what someone else is going through.”
3) My father used to always tell me, “Keep your eyes on the prize.” It didn’t feel as though I was doing that throughout my journey however, I knew the option was there. This kept me seeking a growth mindset.

It might seem like getting to the light at the end of the tunnel is strenuous and impossible. Honestly it is strenuous often!
If you can’t believe in yourself, strive to be a good person. Pray for guidance and ask for mentors. As basic as saying 1, 2, 3, account for other people seeing in you, what you cannot see in yourself, as bridges made with compassion, to help you head into your power. You know good and darn well you feel it to some degree!
Don’t cha!?
Even if only by memory or a little bit, for now.

I held dear to this quote by Martin Luther King Jr. through uncertain times.

“If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving.”

Finally, fight back! Even if the essence of your punch is soft (like mine!) a knock-down drag-out competition with the worst of your journey in spirit will be forced to congratulate you!

How can folks who want to work with you connect?

I am interested in connecting with community-based org’s serving youth and adults, trauma and recovery related programming.
I dream of touching lives with the content I have provided to give everyone friendship in my heartfelt writing within a hard cover, soft cover, audio recording and digital print.
I want to share my books with the world.
My style of writing is transparent and vulnerable. And not error free, lol.
My goals are to attend speaking engagements, career focused workshops, healing circles, site tours, literary events, creative arts and charitable happenings.
I have a lot more to learn about the publishing world as well. Advice, recommendations and “learning curve love” are highly welcome.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @stephanezzy619
• Facebook: Stephany Welch Writes