Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Paraiso.
Hi Stephanie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was born in Liberia, West Africa and lived there the first 13 years of my life. I immigrated to the United States in 1990 due to civil unrest in the country. We lost a lot of family members and had to begin our lives over as we lost EVERYTHING. It forced me to face harsh realities, especially not having all of life’s amenities readily available any longer. I started working at 14 full-time while I went to high school. I completed and began college immediately that summer on a scholarship, and I started off wanting to be a Pharmacologist because I wanted to help people and I figured being able to make medicines that helped people get better would be a great start.
See, I grew up in the broadcasting world. My mother served in Liberia in a public leadership capacity and did a lot of radio and television, and I would tag along during interviews. An educator also had a television program that I was a studio audience member of. I honestly hated it. I vowed that I would NEVER do ANYTHING in broadcasting.
Well, fast forward. A cable company in Virginia offered training for folks who wanted to learn more about TV production. My Pastor signed us up since I was the audio engineer at the time. We went and it was such an amazing experience to finally see how everything came together. I started producing and directing for public access shortly after completion and was also responsible for PR for other programs. It sparked a desire to one day own a broadcasting network but I put those plans on hold to go to Bible college.
I left in 1998 to attend World Harvest Bible College (now Valor Christian College) and continued to serve in media, volunteering in the Media Department as a production assistant and camera operator while also deepening my preparation for ministry, missions, and cross-cultural work.
After graduation, I was set to do missions work, but it was interrupted by life and family responsibilities. I moved, served with churches, and over time I found myself leading youth and young adults, building curriculum, training leaders, and teaching communication through public speaking and performance.
Things shifted again and mentoring became a consistent theme. I began doing more motivational speaking and started a business as a Life Coach and Personal & Business Strategist because I was already doing the work informally: helping young people and adults navigate purpose, planning, and progress. That lane matured into S Paraiso Consulting “from vision to fruition” where I help small businesses, organizations, and entrepreneurs convert ideas into realistic goals, strengthen what’s working, reinforce what’s weak, and clarify niche and brand with actionable strategy.
Around that same time, Afro Fuse Box launched (and grew into multiple lanes). I was driven to not just broadcast music and interview talent but also impact the lives of many positively while still committed to community work and service. In 2022, I was the recipient of the ACHI Magazine Servant Leader of the Year Award, its inaugural category that year.
The last five years expanded my leadership in a different way: I led large-scale community response work across the DMV, including directing a county emergency hub model connecting families to food and essentials during the pandemic, and later overseeing regional programs that provided diapers and essential hygiene products to families at scale (a chapter that concluded in early 2026).
In 2023, my mother transitioned, and that loss clarified legacy for me.
It made The Waste Not Initiative Inc. urgent; something I felt pressed to build in honor of her life and a lifetime of nurturing and empowering others. Today, in addition to consulting and creative media, I teach at the School of Ministry at Harvest Intercontinental Ministries, Unlimited while serving as a Youth and Young Adult Advisor with a missions-driven burden both locally and globally and I lead a small group called The Affirmed Woman.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. It’s been a road of rebuilding, carrying weight, and choosing purpose anyway.
In the last five years, the struggle wasn’t just “working hard.” It was leading in pressure-cooker conditions directing pandemic-era hub operations that connected families to food, services, and diaper/hygiene support, and later overseeing regional programs that put essentials in families’ hands at scale (a chapter that concluded in early 2026). When you’re serving families at that level, you don’t get the luxury of vague leadership. Your systems, your follow-through, and your consistency directly affect people’s lives.
Another struggle was learning that vision without structure becomes overwhelm. That’s why my consulting work is built around turning ideas into realistic, measurable action strengthening what’s working, reinforcing what’s weak, and helping leaders build a clear niche and plan that actually moves.
And then there was the deepest struggle: grief. When my mother transitioned in 2023, it didn’t just blindside and shock me, it clarified. It made The Waste Not Initiative urgent. Waste Not is my response to her legacy: a lifetime of nurturing, empowering, and pulling the best out of people. It’s my way of saying: what she poured into others will not end with her and neither will the purpose God places in any of us.
What I want people to do with this story is simple: If you’re reading this and you’ve been waiting for life to “calm down” before you obey what God has placed in your heart, don’t. If grief tried to pause you, if pressure tried to shrink you, if fear tried to delay you, respond anyway. Build the thing. Launch the consulting practice. Start the business or nonprofit. Mentor the young people. Say yes to the call. Because later is not guaranteed and purpose is too expensive to waste.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
The Waste Not Initiative Inc. is the heart of what I’m building right now and it’s more than a nonprofit to me; it’s a legacy response.
The Waste Not Initiative Inc. exists to ensure that no potential, resource, or person is wasted. We bridge gaps in opportunity by providing practical support, educational tools, and entrepreneurial resources to underserved individuals and families so people can thrive, not just survive. Our work centers on life skills, employability and portfolio-building, career pathway support, and entrepreneurship paired with meeting basic needs when those needs are the barrier to progress.
We specialize in connecting dignity + development:
Basic needs support as a stabilizing foundation (because you can’t plan long-term when you’re in survival mode).
Education + tools that increase capacity (life skills, career readiness, and practical training).
Entrepreneurship support that moves people from ideas to income through resources, coaching, and partnerships.
What sets us apart from others is that a lot of organizations do either emergency support or long-term empowerment. Waste Not is built to do both strategically. We don’t just “hand out help.” We create pathways, so support becomes momentum and momentum becomes self-sufficiency.
I’m most proud that Waste Not is a values-forward brand: we protect dignity, steward resources wisely, and measure success by transformation not just interaction. We’re building something that honors legacy and produces results people can feel in real life.
This isn’t just theory, it’s the continuation of my last five years of work and the through-line of my entire life: rebuilding after loss, leading through crisis, and turning compassion into structure. It also aligns directly with the work I do through S Paraiso Consulting, where I help leaders convert ideas into realistic, measurable action—strengthening what works, reinforcing what’s weak, and building plans that move.
And while Waste Not is the center of my work today, it sits alongside the creative platforms that helped me learn endurance and bridge-building: AFB Presents (interviews, inspirational storytelling, and Afro/Afro-crossover culture) and Fragrant Nation, which showcases worship across every kindred and tribe through the beauty of culture in music and the arts.
At the heart of it all is one conviction: people are not disposable and purpose is not optional. Waste Not seeks to prove that, every day, in practical ways.
My charge to all reading, “Don’t waste your story, Don’t waste your gifts, Don’t waste the moment you’re in.
because nothing happens by accident. It happens when you decide to build despite what life throws at you. We are here to help people move from survival to stability and from stability to purpose.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Baltimore has a real heartbeat—grit and creativity. I love the way culture shows up everywhere: in the neighborhoods, the arts, the history, and the people who keep building even when it’s hard.
What I like least is that we still need more consistent, early investment in our young people—programming that starts sooner, stays long enough, and is paired with affordable training, mentoring, and real pathways into careers, entrepreneurship, and leadership. There’s too much talent that never gets the support, exposure, or access it deserves, and that has long-term consequences for families and the city.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stephanieparaiso.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/israelspraiz/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/israels.praiz#
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@afrofusebox5542
