After graduating from Tulane University in 2004, Stephanie Terelak moved from New Orleans to New York City and worked as a Strategic Planner for Saatchi & Saatchi. A year later, she decided to dedicate all of her creative energy to painting. Now a full time painter, she is currently a student at the National Academy of Design's School of Fine Arts, where she has been studying under a renowned Abstract Expressionist, Sonia Gechtoff, for three years. Stephanie has won numerous prizes & scholarships at the National Academy. She has also completed a painting/mixed media residency at the School of Visual Art's Institute for Studio Studies. She has served as a teacher, mentor and Junior Board Member for Art Start, an institution that has created art programs for New York City's homeless children since the fall of 2007.