Stephanie Renée
Stephanie Renée is an award-winning broadcast producer, writer, grassroots organizer, and message crafter with over 30 years of experience in entertainment, journalism, and public policy. It was this experience in media, along with her passion for genealogy, that prompted her to explore creative writing and filmmaking as the vehicles through which she could begin to tell her family’s stories.
Stephanie served as Program Director and on-air host of “The Mojo” at WURD Radio Philadelphia from 2012 until October 2018. She was able to bring her listening audience along on the ride as she received her DNA results and began to understand what those results meant for her family research. The short film clips that she shot during her first visit to Nelson County in 2017 in search of answers have evolved into a much more interactive community for sharing genealogical findings. Stephanie now continues sharing through The DNA Journey blog on social media platform Substack, and via her episodic video series of the same name.
Awarded Grants
2025
Window of Opportunity Grant (WOO)
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Overview
Stephanie Renée has been invited by the Nelson County Virginia Historical Society to present excerpts from her genealogy video series, The DNA Journey, and share her research with the local community in May 2025 in Lovingston, VA. Rooted in her discovery that her late mother was adopted, Stephanie has traced her maternal lineage back to Nelson County and is using her narrative film work to explore and document the family histories of formerly enslaved people and their descendants. She frames genealogy as a social justice issue, particularly for Black communities whose historical ties have been severed by systemic oppression.
The WOO Grant will support Stephanie with travel, lodging, meals, and documentation costs.
2002
Harmony Grant
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Overview
Direction of a spoken word and a cappella performance addressing the social aftermath of 9/11.