A graduate of the University of New Mexico’s Design for Performance program, Stephani began her career working across the costume department as a set costumer, seamstress, and assistant designer before establishing herself as a Costume Designer. Her feature work includes Beasts of the Southern Wild, Swiss Army Man, Sinister 2, The History of Future Folk, Ping Pong Summer, and Moonshot. Her television credits include Ozark, The Outsider, American Gigolo, Dark Matter, and Mayor of Kingstown.

Stephani’s design philosophy is rooted in discovering the character within the clothes—using costume not simply to define a period, place, or aesthetic, but to reveal who a person is, where they come from, and how they move through the world. Whether working on an intimate independent film or a large-scale television production, she approaches each project with equal attention to story, detail, and the larger visual world of the piece.

Her work on Beasts of the Southern Wild earned her a Costume Designers Guild Award nomination for Excellence in Contemporary Film.