Meet Our Team
Stellar’s storytelling instructors and coaches combine their expertise in strategic communications, nonprofit and business management, and artistic storytelling to lead dynamic training and coaching programs and custom events. Leveraging extensive experience working with people from diverse backgrounds and identities, Stellar specializes in identifying and amplifying underrepresented or marginalized voices.
Cheryl Hamilton is an innovative program director and communications expert who has devoted her career to advancing more inclusive communities and storytelling. She founded Stellar Story Company after directing programs and external relations for local, national, and global nonprofits for two decades. While employed at the International Institute of New England, she created the popular Suitcase Stories® series that explores global migration through storytelling. She also directed curating and coaching for the national media program Stories from the Stage between 2017-2024. An award-winning story coach, Cheryl has helped over 1,500 people from 80 countries tell meaningful stories. Her personal stories have been featured on national media programs, and she routinely performs on stages throughout the U.S.
A Colombian native, Lorena Hernández Leonard is a storyteller, writer, and filmmaker whose award-winning animated short film, Demi’s Panic, was an Oscar contender. Lorena is a Latinx culture expert with 20 years of experience in the marketing and communications industry. She’s creator of Gritty Girl, a project that highlights immigrant stories and galvanizes BIPOC women to build resilience and grit. She has appeared on Stories From the Stage and is a Pauline Scheer Fellow at GrubStreet where she is currently working on a memoir about her experiences growing up during the Colombian drug war and migrating to the United States.
Chris Ko is an expert in operations management and planning. In his time away from Stellar, he is the Public Events Coordinator for the Waltham Museum of Industry and Innovation. His experience includes various positions at the International Institute of New England, Boston College, and Harvard. Chris discovered storytelling through Suitcase Stories, a program Cheryl Hamilton launched at IINE that features stories of refugee and immigrant life. His story on belonging appeared on Stories from the Stage.
U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo is a Zimbabwean-American poet, author, performance artist, storyteller, and educator with an international reach and a transnational lens. For more than two decades, she has taught writing and wellness through the arts across a range of settings including schools, community centers, colleges, hospitals, libraries, and shelters. U-Meleni is the 2021 recipient of the BIPOC Arts Leaders Ripple Grant by the Cultural Equity Learning Community and a graduate of the DEI Workplace Certificate program from the University of South Florida Muma School Of Business. Two of her stories about identity and race have been featured on Stories from the Stage. She is a board member for Mass Poetry and Write on the DOT, as well as a member of the New England Poetry Club and National Writers Union.
Sufian Zhemukhov is an award-winning author and performer. He received the 2020 J.J. Reneaux Emerging Artist Award from the National Storytelling Network that honors storytellers of major and unique performing talent. Sufian’s solo show “Flirting Like an American” has been featured at festivals in New York City, Washington, DC, and Rochester, NY. Sufian’s stories are based on his personal experience as a first-generation immigrant and a university professor, which might be funnier than you’d expect. Sufian teaches at George Washington University. His recent academic book won the 2019 Best Book Award in International Affairs.
