Native West Virginian, retired Army veteran and professional photographer Stephanie Ferrell has just launched her new Appalachian artist project in photography called “West Virginia Women Warriors”. The project, which plans to photograph women veterans in their home element, commences today and will run through Christmas. The display of framed photojournalism is expected to exhibit in January, with the venue and dates to be announced at a later time.
Ferrell, who has been a part-time professional photographer for ten years in the Charleston area, and a juried member of Allied Artists of West Virginia since 2011, needed a new project. It did not take her long to find her inspiration. Her passion and motivation for helping homeless veterans, network and celebrate with fellow women veterans in West Virginia, and advocate for women veterans’ issues nationwide was just the beginning.
With this photo project, Ferrell is looking to showcase and document as many women veterans residing in West Virginia that she can connect with and photograph in their home or work settings.
“In the past year fundraising for the homeless and veterans and advocating for women veterans’ issues,” Ferrell said, “I’ve connected with women veterans, who have become remnants and relics from our wars, and then come home to continue to be warriors at home, battling disabilities and diseases while struggling with trying to live their lives as normally as they can.
I’ve witnessed one 70% disabled woman veteran taking care of a 100% disabled husband in a rundown home with no running water, also taking care of her animals and grandchildren while the VA representatives berate her over her benefits and the caretakers program fails her; another woman veteran with breast cancer taking chemotherapy treatments, yet still looking after a sick sister; another woman veteran failed by the VA system, but managing to still join in the volunteer advocacy efforts to help other women veterans; and another woman veteran, also failed by the VA, come across a group of dislocated veterans from the Hurricane and floods in North Carolina, team up with a member of the American Red Cross to help relocate them and start a fundraiser for them.
That is just an example of some of the women warriors of our time. Unpretentious, underpaid, and unrecognized. And they deserve to be honored not only for their time spent in uniform, but for their efforts once they came home, and still today as they continue to struggle to make life better for themselves and others they care for. I do not want to miss any of these brave women warriors. So I am reaching out to get the word out about my project.”
In order to make this happen, Ferrell says that she encourages all women veterans to connect with her via e-mail at StephanieRFerrell@gmail.com. When the woman veteran informs her of her interest, she will provide her with an application and photo consent form to complete and send in, then a date and time will be set up for a photo session to take place.
Women veterans do not have to be in uniform for the photos. They should wear something comfortable or that is representative of their life as both a soldier in the military and a woman on her home turf.
A U.S. Army veteran herself, Ferrell, was named to the Board of Directors and Fundraising Committee for Roark-Sullivan Lifeway Center in Charleston in June. Roark-Sullivan brings homeless and veterans off the streets and provides temporary housing and services to them in one- to three-year programs, depending on the need, and helps them obtain permanent housing.
In July 2018, she was honored to be part of the First Annual West Virginia Women Veterans Celebration at Chief Logan State Park.
Ferrell has owned her home-based photography business, Stephanie Ferrell Photography, for nearly ten years and recently changed the company name to Woman Warrior Productions, LLC. Under the new company she will engage in motivational speaking, life coach and mentoring, public relations and marketing for small businesses, and photography. In addition, she will continue her volunteer advocacy on behalf of veterans. She has been employed by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for the past nine years.
Ferrell obtained her Accredited Public Relations Professional (APRP) certification through the Florida Public Relations Association. She also has her Equal Employment Opportunity and Public Speaking Certifications.
A graduate of West Virginia State University with both Associate and Bachelors degrees in Communications, specializing in Speech and Journalism, Ferrell has spent most of her civilian career in public relations, marketing, journalism, and photography. She has studied financial and investigative journalism at New School for Social Research in New York City, Integrated Marketing and Communications at West Virginia University, and Human Resource Management at University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
For more information:
Stephanie Ferrell
(304) 590-0095
E-mail: StephanieRFerrell@gmail.com
