Dr. Stephanie grew up in the southwest corner of Puerto Rico, Cabo Rojo. She pursued a Biology/Microbiology bachelor’s degree at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, followed by a two-year post-baccalaureate program at Mayo Clinic to further explore host-pathogens interactions. Stephanie then pursued a PhD in Immunology at the University of Iowa where she studied white blood cell responses (neutrophils) to a bacterial infection. Stephanie was awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, a Sloan Scholar fellowship, and various presentation awards in national conferences. She has mentored more than a dozen undergraduates and graduate students in the Allen Lab. Today, she is working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Missouri where she studies neutrophil nuclear morphology. When not involved in her research, Stephanie loves spending time with her favorite people, baking, painting, scrapbooking, listening to good music and eating, all the while taking care of her pup Jelly Bean.

After wrestling with the inner mean girl, Stephanie began a journey of self-discovery and embracing her muchness, joining the Think Like A Phinisher Challenge and Stuck To Unstoppable program in 2020. Here she found a support system, a group of friends; but most importantly, a map to navigate her complex mind, and embrace her limitless self. She also figured out how to get in a daily flow of writing and how to overcome procrastination kindly but effectively. Stephanie struggled with her strong inner mean girl, with her perfectionist tendencies being the reason she felt stuck.

As a coach for Write the Damn Dissertation, Dr. Stephanie strives to help you identify what is holding you back, develop intentional habits, identify short- and long-term goals, and strategies to hold yourself accountable. By learning from the ups and downs of the process of writing the dissertation; Dr. Stephanie will help you map your thoughts, learn from your experiences, and celebrate all the wins; no matter how small or big they are!

Dr. Minnie grew up in Valdosta, GA, but has lived in the Washington, DC area for the last decade. There she has worked full time for Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington while completing her doctoral studies) and being Hasana's mommy (her most enjoyable and toughest job ever. Dr. Minnie is a sociolinguist interested in the language of African Americans from the boardroom to the basketball court as well as from the classroom to the courtroom. Her dissertation was a mixed methods exploration of language about change examining older African American women discussing how the city changed after the 1968 riots as well as an ongoing language change in African American English speakers in the Washington, DC area.

Dr. Minnie began her doctoral journey at Michigan State University in 2006, but left right before her comprehensive exams in 2010 due to a rough pregnancy and then subsequent premature birth of her daughter. Once she enrolled in her second doctoral program at Georgetown (where she completed her bachelor's and master's degrees) and reached candidacy in 2016, she dealt with some serious health issues resulting in very little progress on her dissertation. She was "in the drift" for five years, and then she saw a Facebook ad for Stuck to Unstoppable in spring 2021. She attended the free workshop, but she was not ready to fully commit. In November 2021, she made a commitment to finish the PhD as a promise to her daughter. Dr. Minnie signed up with a different coaching program because she knew she needed the support, but soon realized that this coach was not right for her. The ad for Stuck to Unstoppable popped up yet again (like magic at the right time). After doing their weekend retreat to start off the new year, she joined the January 2022 cohort and was part of the inaugural S2U Intensive program. Over the next four months with Dr. Tara as her coach and the women of S2U as her community, Minnie defended her dissertation on May 12, 2022 with nearly 20 of her S2U sisters present at her defense.

As a coach for the program, Dr. Minnie focuses on tapping into the emotional motivation behind the work of the dissertation with a focus of keeping the WHY top of mind.

She likes to help women develop a systematic and realistic process-driven approach to finishing the dissertation through motivational conversations which include lots of analogies and probing questions. Additionally, Minnie likes to address problem-solving in critical yet creative ways in order to keep authentic voice and value in the process while still getting the project done.

Dr. Vicki originally grew up in the beautiful Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, UK. Over the last 17 years, she and her American husband Scott have split their time between England, UK and New England, USA! In fall 2021, Scott and Vicki moved to their forever home – an 1800s farmhouse in Vermont - with their two golden retrievers Mojo and Faolan. Two kittens, Ciaran and Nyx, joined the furry family in March 2022. Vicki is a passionate environmental scientist and conservationist, as well as a professional science communicator. Her two decade career has focused primarily on providing experiential environmental education and engaging youth with nature. She is also a passionate mental health advocate and enthusiastic women in STEM mentor.

Vicki’s doctoral research was a quantitative field-based study investigating the effects of urbanization and climate change on breeding success in common garden (backyard) birds.Vicki’s doctoral journey at the University of Birmingham began in 2015 after she decided to take the plunge and apply to PhD programs. This involved an international move from Massachusetts and to cut a long story short anything that could go wrong…did. From the outset, Vicki felt like she was battling against her PhD and was increasingly overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and failure. In 2019, and well into her writing-up period (with very little progress), she decided to take a leave of absence to concentrate on her mental health. The pandemic hit and before she knew it nearly two years had passed. She was the poster child of ‘being stuck in the drift’ with crushing imposter syndrome, feelings of incredible loneliness and grief, and a total loss of identity and motivation. A Facebook ad serendipitously popped up on her news feed for Stuck to Unstoppable in spring 2021 just as she was returning to her PhD. She immediately joined the free Think Like a Phinisher workshop. After several more stop-starts (because she was not ready to fully commit), she finally joined the October 2021 cohort and made REAL intentions to finally finish her dissertation. With the wonderful support of the WTDD community and using all the tools available, she completed her dissertation less than a year later and successfully passed her viva in November 2022.

Dr. Vicki is REALLY excited to join the program as a coach having been an incredibly active cohort and alumni member. She hopes that by sharing her own experiences in the WTDD programs, she can help other women stuck in the drift realize their goal of completing their dissertation. As a long-time sufferer of imposter syndrome and with a formerly very loud inner mean girl, her focus is to help women rediscover their belief in themselves and tap into their identity as finishers through compassionate listening, open conversation and creative changes in thinking.

Dr. Luciana (proud namesake of her incredible Italian grandmother) has forged her own path with her literature degrees, entrepreneurial endeavors with her husband and teaching/mentoring in higher education settings. As a lover of literature and words, she consequently appreciates a great pun and creating new phrases (e.g., her favorite game is Ransome Notes and her mobile axe-throwing business is named Great AXEpectations). For her dissertation, Dr. Luciana created a theoretical framework she termed “structural cannibalism” founded in her strength of literary analysis, creativity, and discovery. This literary theory weaves together the persistent tropes of human power structures and consumption found in 19th-century texts on race, class, and gender. For fun, she loves to think of new business ideas with her husband, travel, sing in her church choir, do Pilates, implement new cooking techniques/flavors in the kitchen, and play games with friends/family (as well as her two puppy sidekicks).

Since the beginning of her doctorate in 19th-century British and American literature at UNC Greensboro, Dr. Luciana struggled with imposter syndrome and a strong Inner Mean Girl (IMG). Everyone else appeared to wholeheartedly embrace the 110% commitment that academia seemed to require, yet Dr. Luciana had divided attentions that her IMG weaponized to confirm she didn’t belong. Following Covid and a year of loss after the passing of her grandparents, Dr. Luciana was in the drift for 2 years. Dissertation paralysis firmly gripped her, leading to compounding shame that “self-evidenced” the IMG’s lie that she was “lazy” (which Dr. Luciana saw as an inherent flaw). After a friend convinced her to sign up for a workshop with Write the Damn Dissertation (WTDD), she immediately saw a shift in her mindset using Dr. Amy’s approach. Dr. Amy and the WTDD coaches dug deep into the emotional lies she believed were her identity. Through holistic and consistent thought-work, she confronted those lies with truths evinced in other areas of her life. She also found a community of amazing women that were similarly struggling and conquering. The WTDD program was where she found her voice, embracing her muchness and uniqueness with her non-traditional dissertation.

While she was a WTDD member, Dr. Luciana inspired the idea for and worked alongside Dr. Tara to create our Phinisher support groups. This offering is available for WTDD Alums who are in the final push to become their doctor selves! She is excited to bring even more dedication and support in her new role as a WTDD Group Leader. With her experience as a multi-hat job wearer, she understands the balance and support needed to make progress on the dissertation. Her approach focuses on creativity and flexibility as she seeks to support members in their dissertation process through listening and sharing from her own experience.