Meet Our Team
Cheryl Hamilton has devoted her career to advancing more inclusive communities and storytelling, from her first job supporting the unexpected migration of 2,500 Somali residents to her hometown in Maine to her role directing curation and coaching for the award-winning national media program Stories from the Stage.
Before founding Stellar Story Company, Hamilton directed local and national nonprofit programs for two decades. She is also the creator of the Suitcase Stories® series, which features stories of global migration. Hamilton has coached over 1500 people from 80 countries to 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.
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.
