Stern was born in Florida and grew up in Ashford, Connecticut. As a child, she developed an interest in and learned crafts by the example of her parents who cooked and practiced various sorts of sewing. Her interest in videography was born when at the age of five and a half she recorded her parents framing an addition to their home. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design in 2007. It was there that she developed an interest in electronics and programming by hacking toys and building her own. Around this time Stern started sharing her school projects and tutorials online. Beginning in 2007, Stern began studying interaction design and sculpture at graduate programs at Arizona State University. She returned to New York in 2009 without completing her graduate degree.
Career
From 2007 to 2012 Stern worked as a blogger and senior video producer for MAKE and CRAFT magazines. She produced tutorials and videos about crafts and how to embed electronics in clothes and home goods. From 2012 to 2016, Stern was the Director of Wearable Electronics at NYC-based Adafruit Industries, where she published weekly video tutorials on do-it-yourself crafts and technology. She then became Content Creator at Instructables. Stern holds an adjunct faculty position at School of Visual Arts in New York City. She's a member of the Brooklyn art combine Madagascar Institute and the Free Art & Technology Lab. Her artwork was featured in F.A.T. Gold: Five Years of Free Art & Technology, a retrospective of F.A.T. Lab's work, at Eyebeam, MU Eindhoven, and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. Her projects have also shown at the San Francisco Museum of Craft & Folk Art, Bildmuseet in Umeå, Sweden, and Gizmodo Gallery.
Personal Life
Stern is an avid motorcyclist.
Projects
Compubody Knitted Interface - sweater that fits around the wearer's head & laptop, providing privacy and warmth.
CAPTCHA Paintings - hand-painted versions of the CAPTCHA tests used by websites to prevent spam robots.
LilyPad Embroidery - hand embroidery sampler featuring LilyPad Arduino microcontroller
TV-B-Gone Jacket - hoodie with embedded TV-B-Gone remote control and conductive thread zipper switch
ASCII Heart Necklace - emoticon pendant from laser-cut silver
Sparkle Skirt - motion-activated circuit with sewable components lights up when wearer dances
