Stephanie's story began at age eight, alone in the Santa Cruz mountains with God and a quiet but certain knowing — that her life would be dedicated to helping children, the elderly, and the animals that crossed her path.

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This summer marks Stephanie's 40th year of professional expertise in avian husbandry and high-level show production. Since 1986, she has served as the operational architect of Carvalho's Friends of a Feather, Inc. At the height of this era, Stephanie simultaneously managed nine independent contracts across the U.S. and internationally, overseeing the complex logistics of diverse teams and hundreds of animal ambassadors.

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As the Director of Operations, Stephanie authored the proprietary Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that became the cornerstone of her company's success. These systems—including predictive weight-charting, the Behavior Training Program (BTP), and the Medical Treatment Profile (MTP)—were designed as sophisticated fail-safes. These rigorous protocols provided the safety and consistency required to support Joe's groundbreaking free-flight work with species rarely seen in the industry, including the Andean Condor, Marabou Stork, and the complex Hornbill "grape retrieval" flight. It was this synergy of operational safety and training mastery that earned their teams the IAATE Behavior of the Year (2001) and multiple White Glove Awards from August Busch of Busch Entertainment Corporation. Having worked alongside Joe in live productions for decades, Stephanie's hands-on experience in avian husbandry and performance serves as the vital backbone of the sanctuary's continuity of care, ensuring the safety and stability of the ambassadors remains unbroken.

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Beyond the technical systems, Stephanie's legacy is defined by her commitment to Human and Animal Wellness. She recognized early on that for birds to receive consistent, elite care, the human team must be healthy and empowered. She pioneered a radical accountability structure designed to eliminate "information hoarding"—not through mandate, but by demonstrating that shared knowledge creates peace of mind. By training every team member to operate as part of a "well-oiled machine," Stephanie provided her managers the freedom to truly unplug, knowing their birds and shows were secure.

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Stephanie's leadership style is rooted in the belief that while she cannot control an individual's moral makeup, she can set a healthy stage where everyone belongs. She is known for her "deep-dive" mentorship, personally intervening to bridge gaps in communication and shielding passionate employees from the bureaucracies that can stifle growth. Today, her former mentees stand as respected leaders at premier zoological facilities — a testament to the standards of excellence and the culture of sustainable, transparent leadership she spent four decades building.

Here, that eight-year-old girl's knowing has found its fullest expression in First Heaven Private Sanctuary LLC — a private haven where the sky belongs to the birds, and every guest is invited into their world.