Stephanie A Mattera

Stephanie Mattera is a Communications and Community Outreach professional with a passion for creating social change. She serves as a professor, consultant, and award-winning philanthropist. Stephanie’s corporate career spans more than a decade in roles at global lifestyle brands including Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Alex and Ani, Ralph Lauren, Glamour Magazine, and Macy's. While at Starwood Hotels, she served on the crisis team and executed public relations activations for Starwood Preferred Guest’s (SPG) announcements and Your World Rewards partnership with Emirates.

Stephanie is impacting students' lives as an educator and believes in the power of communications as a force for the public good. She is a Ph.D. candidate at Purdue University, where she is being cultivated into a 21st-century change agent in higher education. Stephanie began teaching in the Public Relations and Corporate Communication graduate program at New York University’s School of Professional Studies (NYU SPS) in 2015. The courses she regularly teaches are Community Relations and Advocacy Communications and Capstone. In addition, Stephanie is responsible for Capstone adviser onboarding, supporting and mentoring Capstone and Research faculty, and supporting students in the Institutional Review Board process. 

She is also an active NYU alumna. Currently, she is an NYU Alumni Association board member and officer. For three years, Stephanie co-chaired the Communications and Marketing Committee. In addition, she partnered with University Development and Alumni Relations (UDAR) on the inaugural NYU Alumni Changemakers campaign in 2018, honoring alumni building a better world through their creativity and entrepreneurial vision.  

Her commitment to social good encompasses causes that affect the most vulnerable members of society, the environment, and higher education. In 2017, she traveled as a Disruptor Foundation Fellow to Hiroshima, Japan, to join innovators and social entrepreneurs across arts and culture, philanthropy, community building, and technology. That same year, she traveled to Puerto Rico as part of a rescue mission to save 200 homeless dogs and cats. Stephanie created a cause marketing partnership for the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals that generated 1.2 million dollars for the charity’s life-saving mission. In addition, she has donated thousands of hours of pro bono services to local, national, and global charities. Stephanie has appeared on television as a spokesperson championing social causes. In 2016, Stephanie was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award for Volunteer Service from the Corporation for National and Community Service and the Office of the President of the United States. In 2013, she received the Bart Lawson Alumni Award for Professional Service and Outreach from NYU SPS.

Stephanie holds an M.S. in Public Relations and Corporate Communication from New York University’s School of Professional Studies, an M.B.A. in Global Business Leadership from Johnson & Wales University, a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode Island, and a Certificate in Digital Journalism from New York Film Academy in partnership with NBC News.