[4][5] Stephens became friends with fellow model Toni Garrn during bookings with Calvin Klein in fall 2008.
[2][8][9] Stephens was discovered while shopping with her family in Salt Lake City and signed a three-year contract with Elite Model Management in August 2007 after submitting Polaroid photos of herself.
[4] During that year she also walked the runway on behalf of Chanel, Dries van Noten, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton.
In April, Stephens was the focus of a Calvin Klein billboard on the corner of Houston and Lafayette Street in New York City.
She has appeared in ads for Prada, Gap, Chloé, Alexander Mcqueen, Diane Von Furstenberg, Bergdorf Goodman, Missoni, Karen Millen, Lacoste, Chanel mascara, Georges Rech, Uniqlo, Neiman Marcus, Calvin Klein, and appeared in editorials for Numéro, The New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Allure, V Magazine, Flair, British, Quebec, and French Elle, and American, French, Japanese, Italian, Chinese, Teen, German, and British Vogue.
[2][4][8] In a 2010 New York magazine article, Stephens said "I'm not one of the girls willing to starve themselves for fashion, so I do what shows I can but I don’t pressure myself to fit into the sample sizes."