16 NORTH BAY WOMAN | S P R I N G 2 0 1 5
Stephanie St. James
Healing
An entertainer's search for
By PJ Bremier
Stephanie St. James spent her whole youth preparing for a thrilling career on the stage.
What she didn't prepare for — or expect — was the health blow that threatened to end it.
St. James, the owner of Amazing Fairytale Parties, a company that provides characters for corporate
events and children's parties headquartered in Santa Rosa, is the daughter of immigrants.
Her father, Jim Smith, is a Guyanese native and retired IBM consultant who now lives in Portland, and her
mother is Aya Kopel, a retired realtor from Russia who still lives locally.
"My dad taught me about having an extraordinary amount of discipline and the idea that
you can do anything you set your mind to," she says. "My parents considered this the
land of opportunity. Maybe it's the heart and soul of immigrants, but I was
taught that I had everything in the palm of my hand, anything was
available to me, if I just worked hard enough."
And, she did. "I kept my eyes on
the prize and I was very stubborn," she
says. "I just wanted to pursue a career
in entertainment."
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