Meet Our Team

As CEO of Disrupt for Change, Stephanie M. Jones leads a social inclusion-driven consulting, research, and education enterprise committed to transforming the global travel and tourism industry through equity alignment and social sustainability.

Disrupt for Change supports destination management organizations (DMOs), tourism boards, hospitality brands, government agencies, and global tourism stakeholders in aligning destination development and local engagement goals with equity-centered outcomes. Operating at the intersection of ESG, CSR, supplier diversity, and destination stewardship, we bridge the gap between social sustainability and measurable community impact.

This work challenges destinations and brands to rethink how power, access, and opportunity are distributed in tourism—and equips them with the tools and strategies to embed equity as a core design principle, rather than an afterthought.

Stephanie is also the Founder of the Diversity Tourism Academy—an equity-centered learning platform that provides culturally relevant, industry-specific education for underrepresented tourism and hospitality SMEs, cultural museums, students, and aspiring entrepreneurs. The Academy helps participants become tourism market-ready and better positioned to participate in the global travel trade supply chain.

Her work spans consulting, curriculum development, training, and public speaking. Collaborations have included the U.S. Small Business Administration, Visit Miami, EducationDynamics, and other brands committed to supporting inclusive growth in tourism.

As a media content creator, Stephanie hosts The Necessary Disruptor Podcast and authors an ongoing eBook series exploring tourism marketing, social sustainability, equity alignment, and solutions to overtourism and destination safety.

She has served as a keynote speaker and thought leader on global stages and in academic settings for organizations such as IPW, South African Tourism's Travel Indaba, Colombia-USA Tourism Forum, Belize Tourism Board, Black Travel Expo, CruiseWorld, and Florida International University. 

Public service includes two terms on the U.S. Travel & Tourism Advisory Board, and advisory roles for Northstar Travel Group, Hurtigruten, and Newsweek.

The business of driving mutually beneficial change in cultural heritage, history, and tourism is Kelly's purpose. She is passionate about creating and amplifying diverse, equitable, and inclusive experiences that are community-centered and generate economic opportunity.

As part of the Disrupt for Change leadership team, Kelly believes that success is built on human connections, teamwork, satisfying a customer's need through an engaging, experiential, inspirational, and transformational product.

As a business developer, she focuses on people and their needs to define opportunities. As a strategist, she sets a vision. As a logistical player, she defines processes, As a tactical player, she executes with precision.

As a transformationalist, Kelly exposes others to new experiences outside of their environment and inspires them to give back. She is recognized as a business leader for leadership, achieving financial goals, problem-solving, and organizational development.

Karen is a diversified senior financial management professional with a proven track record of implementing compliance and audit management programs. She deploys strong relationship management skills with a track record in organizational development and team building. 

Karen brings more than 30 years of experience in the financial services industry to the team with strong business intelligence acumen, project and financial management skills, and the ability to identify and implement best practices. She is experienced in successfully building effective relationships and teams as well as managing complex business and financial changes. She is a self-starter able to identify critical business needs and develops and implements recommendations that increase operational efficiency.

Karen develops and implements recommendations that increases operational efficiency for Disrupt for Change.

Margaret “Margie” Miranda is an experienced marketing and outreach

professional. She has worked in the travel and tourism industry for more than 20 years. Margie conducts outreach in local communities and works with SMEs to help them understand their level of tourism and market readiness and where there are gaps in their knowledge base as entrepreneurs and business owners. She provides support for the Diversity Tourism Academy. 

Driven by her interest in culture and the tourism industry, she took a leap of faith as an independent tour guide on the island of Puerto Rico, engaging local business owners to be the source of her tour trips as well as providing visitors the best experience while traveling the island. As an entrepreneur, she understands firsthand the challenges and barriers for minority businesses from underserved communities working in the travel and tourism industry. She received certification as a cultural heritage tour guide through Miami-Dade Community College.

As an adventurer and Latina entrepreneur, she is passionate about her professional growth in the tourism industry and wants to ensure that others gain industry education to grow their businesses.