[1] She studied film and communications at McGill University, graduating in 1969, and travelled to work internationally for some time before joining the National Arts Centre as a publicist.

[4] In 1980, she was coproducer with Henk Van der Kolk and Bill Marshall of Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave.

[7] She then became chair of Viacom Canada,[8] and an on-air host of film-related programming for Showcase.

In the 2000s, Stephenson and Kate Alexander Daniels launched the public relations firm Daniels Stephenson,[11] which handled film publicity and produced the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards,[12] and cofounded the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival with Brenda Dinnick.

[13] Stephenson was named interim CEO of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television in 2011,[14] and was confirmed in the position in 2012.