Stephanie Pakrul
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stephanie Pakrul (born September 9, 1982[1]), also known as StephTheGeek, is an internet personality.
Biography
Pakrul is from Mississauga, Ontario.[2] She studied as an information technology student at Ryerson University in Toronto[3] and earned a master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.[4]
Pakrul began developing webpages at around the age of 15 and started her personal site a few years later, in 2001, as a small personal website. The site has since become a blog, sharing many personal details of her life, including music, relationships, gadgetry, and sexuality.
Her third year of college, she posed nude for the 2002 Love & Sex issue of Eyeopener's, a Ryerson University student newspaper.[5]
Having started her webcam shortly after her personal site, Parkul was involved in early Camgirl culture and was featured in CamGirls (2005), a documentary on her experiences with the still developing media form.[6] One such webcam was a 24/7 stream using a network camera, about which she spoke in a presentation entitled "Show Me Your Boobs!'"and Other Subtleties of Building a Highly Interactive Personal Community as a featured speaker at NotACon 2005.[7]
In 2003, Pakrul self-published a musical album, Not a Victim, which was partially crowdfunded through donations on her website.[5][8] Feminist blog The F-Word praised Not a Victim, writing: "Beautifully crafted songs with wonderful melodies, emotional lyrics and understated piano/guitar accompaniment make this a stand-out debut."[9]
In 2004, she scripted and published the first cellphone based webcam which she titled Perpetua(l).[10]
Pakrul has been featured on TechTV,[citation needed] Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Street Cents,[citation needed] MTV Live,[citation needed] and in Young Entrepreneur,[citation needed] Cosmogirl,[citation needed] and several newspapers.[citation needed] [which?] Her interests include consumer rights, sex work, and increasing efficiency in everyday life through innovative uses of technology. She was also a member of Industry Canada's SchoolNet Youth Advisory Board.[citation needed]
As of 2016, Pakrul lives in San Francisco.[11]
