Meet Stephanie
Stephanie Malia Krauss is a longtime champion of children and adults who care for them. Her latest book, How We Thrive, explores the urgent need to rehuman our lives by protecting human essentials, like sleep, play, and belonging. An educator and social worker with experience working across the U.S. and globally, Stephanie advises national, state, and local leaders on human-centered ways to prepare and care for young people and themselves. Her work spans youth development, education, human services, and workforce development. Stephanie is the bestselling author of Whole Child, Whole Life and Making It. Her work has been featured by NPR, PBS NewsHour, Parents, Newsweek, and more.
For more than two decades, Stephanie has worked with schools, youth programs, foundations, and government, helping youth-serving professionals rethink how to care for kids and themselves. As a high school dropout, Stephanie has firsthand experience with childhood adversity and the impact of caring adults. At 18, Stephanie began her career as a teacher and coach, went on to found a school for youth furthest from opportunity, and later led national efforts in education and youth development.
Working with leaders from the classroom to Congress, Stephanie advises policymakers and practitioners on holistic and humane strategies that help kids and their grown-ups thrive. With her unique blend of lived experience, professional credibility, and extensive national and global networks, Stephanie draws from the latest science and strategies to ensure young people and the adults who care for them have what they need to live, learn, and thrive.
Stephanie is the author of Whole Child, Whole Life and Making It: What Today's Kids Need for Tomorrow's World. Both books explore what young people need to be ready and well in a rapidly changing world.
Her newest book, How We Thrive, introduces the concept of rehumaning—the practice of protecting human essentials most crucial for well-being. How We Thrive offers science-backed strategies, indigenous wisdom, and stories from pioneering educators and youth workers on how to wayfind in the dangerous weather of modern life while reclaiming the natural capacities needed to endure and enjoy life.
Professional Affiliations
SOCIAL WORK
Senior Fellow at Boston University School of Social Work
EDUCATION
Senior Advisor at Youth-Nex, UVA School of Education and Human Development
CONSULTING
Founder + Principal of First Quarter Strategies
Previous Books
Making It
Jossey-Bass | 2021
This book focuses on how to build young people's connections, competencies, credentials, and cash, wherever learning happens. Full of research and real experiences focused on youth readiness, this book helps you understand and apply a human-centered and future-focused lens to any effort in the classroom, at school, in a youth program, or at home.
Chapters in Edited Volumes
"Preparing for a 60-Year Career"
Routledge | 2023
Advances in science and technology have made it possible for young people to live a 100-year life, which means the possibility of a 60-year career. In this essay, Stephanie explores how today's world is shaping future jobs and future workers, and what that means for preparing young people for their long working lives.
"Equipping Young People to Build Long Lives They Love"
Springer | 2025
We are preparing young people for longer lives than ever. With the possibility of a 100-year-life, young people must be equipped to build livable, lovable, and long lives they love. In this chapter, Stephanie lays out a framework for preparing young people for the long-haul.