Hi, I'm so glad you're here.
Steph
Shields.
I'm an Associate Consultant at Bain, I co-founded and scaled a startup of my own, and I spend a suspicious amount of time teaching people how to actually build with AI. Also: 75+ flights a year, learning to play guitar, and happiest in good company.
I like hard problems, big ideas, and building the thing.
By day I'm an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company, building corporate and growth strategies and financial models that inform C-suite decisions across financial services, retail, advanced manufacturing, and energy. (Translation: I get handed genuinely hard questions, and I love that.)
Before consulting I co-founded and ran Waveform Social, a podcast marketing agency I helped scale to 28 clients and six figures in revenue. That founder's instinct — for ownership, speed, and just figuring it out — comes with me into every room.
Lately I'm all-in on generative AI. I founded and run Bain DC's AI Maker Hub, running trainings and "vibe coding" workshops that pushed our office to #1 worldwide in agentic coding-tool adoption per capita. This little site? Consider it a receipt.
Where I've worked.
- Build corporate and growth strategies and financial models that inform C-suite decisions across financial services, retail, advanced manufacturing, and energy.
- Own end-to-end workstreams — structuring analyses, leading client meetings, and turning findings into recommendations for client leadership, including workplanning and supervising.
- Founded and run the office's AI Maker Hub, delivering trainings and "vibe coding" workshops from intern to senior partner — driving DC to #1 worldwide in agentic coding-tool users per capita.
- Partnered with the Executive Director to plan and execute flagship fundraising events, including the annual gala.
- Co-founded and scaled a podcast marketing agency helping podcasts monetize through cross-platform short-form video — owning strategy, go-to-market, operations, and hiring.
- Grew to 28 clients (including The Skinny Confidential) at an 85% renewal rate and six figures in revenue.
- Authored strategy memos on regulatory dynamics that informed Invenergy's market-positioning decisions.
- Managed 10,000+ Gen-Z brand ambassadors nationwide, turning audience data into consumer insights that shaped client brand and product decisions.
- Built a custom SQL solution that quadrupled data-processing speed for donor outreach and fundraising.
- Promoted from intern to full-time finance staffer — the only intern selected.
Things I'm good at.
Generative AI
Strategy & Business
Programming & Data
Craft & Communication
Wins I'm proud of.
A few true things about me.
Type 1 diabetes advocacy
I serve on the Breakthrough T1D Youth Advisory Council and ran the NYC Marathon to fundraise for T1D — supporting the community through storytelling, fundraising, and getting loud about a cause I care about.
Let's talk.
Strategy, building with AI, a great book, or where I should fly next — I'd genuinely love to hear from you.