Stephanie Manriquez

Producer and Educator

2024 3Arts Awards

Teaching Arts

Stephanie Manriquez (she/her) is an award-winning writer, radio producer, journalist, and teaching artist based in Chicago. She sees storytelling as a radical act for BIPOC communities and has committed herself to developing spaces for diverse voices to be heard with a larger goal of increasing representation on public and alternative radio. As a journalist, she consistently speaks on topics that most affect her communities, and as an educator, she is passionate about mentoring the next generation of media makers, helping them to become civically minded and artistically innovative.

Documenting current events in public radio during her time at Radio Arte allowed Stephanie to creatively shed light on social justice issues affecting Latino communities. Stephanie has reported on issues such as adult education, literacy, housing, mental health, and migration. She has also worked closely with community organizations and collaborated with several publications. Her extended collaboration with Contratiempo since 2010, has allowed her to focus efforts on issues concerning Little Village and Pilsen’s immigrant communities, development, arts, and culture. Her previous work includes leading the National Museum of Mexican Arts youth radio journalism program and being a reporter and youth mentor as a Social Justice News Nexus Fellow at Northwestern University.

Currently, she is the Executive Director at Contratiempo, a literary organization that highlights the cultural contributions of the Spanish-speaking diaspora through programs presented as a printed magazine, digital publication, airwaves, stage, and workshops. As the Director of Lumpen Radio, Stephanie serves as the lead producer for the community radio station and highlights multilingual content through their leadership of the Communities Amplifiedradio initiative.

She was recognized in 2020 by the Field Foundation and MacArthur Foundation as one of 11 "Leaders for a New Chicago” and in 2023 received the “Public Humanities Award” from Illinois Humanities.

Profile caption: Image by Sandra Oviedo / Colectivo Multipolar

Stephanie Manriquez's Website

group of students and teacher pose in radio booth

Featured Artworks

a teacher and a group of students at Lumpen Radio, learning about the studio equipment

FM Waves to Activism: Latinx Empowerment through Community Radio Photo by Colectivo Multipolar

Through Your Years: Generations on Air Spring, 2025 Collaborative Project with Yollocalli Arts Reach and Innovation80: CoGen Program Led by Stephanie Manriquez

From FM Waves to Activism Fall, 2025 Collaborative Project with DePaul University: Humanities X Fellowship Led by Stephanie Manriquez and Yoalli Rodríguez

Through Your Years: Generations on Air, 2025 Collaborative Project with Yollocalli Arts Reach and Innovation80: CoGen Program Led by Stephanie Manriquez

From FM Waves to Activism, 2025 Collaborative Project with DePaul University: Humanities X Fellowship Led by Stephanie Manriquez and Yoalli Rodríguez

group of people sit around table working on project

Pop Up Youth Radio Students broadcasting live at the National Musuem of Mexican Arts

Intergenerational participants recording in a radio studio

Through Your Years: Generation On Air Intergenerational participants recording their audio-story

a teacher addressing a group of students before their practice performance

Building Power Through Storytelling: Audio Visual Collages Addressing the participants before their practice performance at MDW Art Fair at Mana Contemporary Studios Photo by Colectivo Multipolar

Building Power Through Storytelling: Audio Visual Collages Participants are showcasing their audio-stories and creating a live painting collage, using their collected images, in front of an audience

3 people and a teacher at a radio studio training

Lumpen Radio Mentorship Program New hosts and DJs at a radio studio training

Pop Up Youth Radio