Stevona Elem-Rogers—Stevie (like Wonder!)—is a writer, educator, and cultural worker bearing witness to Black life with tenderness, clarity, and the South rolling off her tongue.

Raised in Titusville, a Birmingham neighborhood founded by self-emancipated people, she grew up among beautifiers, storytellers, and grassroots strategists whose freedom dreams shaped her belief in what a more just world makes possible. Her father, a pioneering grocer who fought food insecurity, and her mother, a student of the Black Liberation Movement, taught her that transformation requires radical imagination, a charge at the center of her work.

Stevona holds a B.A. in English and African American Studies from the University of Alabama and an M.A.T. focused on Culturally Responsive Teaching. She began her career as a high school English teacher with Teach For America—New Orleans, where Black veteran educators sharpened her craft and confidence. There, she created the first African American Literature course in the city's charter system, introducing students to works like Alice Walker's The Color Purple.

As co-founder of Black Education for New Orleans (BE NOLA), she conceived Black Is Brilliant, a Harvard-recognized initiative that includes a national summit, institute, and public research documenting the legacy of Black-founded schools while centering contemporary educators as intellectual and creative forces.

She is also the creator of Black Women Are For Grown-Ups (BWAFGU), a viral mantra turned social arts project honoring the fullness of Black women’s lives, with support from LeVar Burton, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonia Sanchez. The project launched the first Little Free Library in the U.S. devoted solely to books by Black women.

Named one of Refinery29’s 20 Black Women You Should Know, Stevona has written for The New York Times (with Cleo Wade), i-D—including a cover story on Solange Knowles—and Essence, where her “Dear New Orleans” cover story marked the 30th anniversary of the Essence Festival.

Across her work, she merges literature, archival research, and community-based experiences to center the Black interior and counter narratives that overlook brilliance, creativity, and complexity.

For two decades, she has been writing, world-making, and wobblin' to Cash Money Records in New Orleans.

Follow her journey: stevie_elem