Deborah Triplett

Stephanie Ansaldo | Humanitarian

Stephanie’s parents, a Jewish American Army officer stationed in Dachau after World War II and a German Lutheran, bridged two unlikely cultures, establishing a living example of tolerance and compassion that has become her family’s legacy.

As part of that legacy, Stephanie persevered for three years to bring Nobel Laureate for Peace, Elie Wiesel, to Charlotte to speak against indifference to human suffering—an event that grew to be a community-wide effort to study the Holocaust.

“It was a magical day,” she says. “He said, ‘You can’t stop now, you must do more, and I’ll help you.” And he did, giving Stephanie seed money to create The Echo Foundation (echofoundation.org), a nonprofit organization that brings world-renowned humanitarians to speak in Charlotte to create global awareness.

“There is a spirit in Charlotte, this region,” Stephanie says, “that is unique and beautiful that has made Echo possible and demanded that it exist.”

~Aleigh Acerni