Stephanie Nielson
Stephanie Clark Nielson is a well-known "Mormon mommy blogger" who chronicled her survival and recovery from a plane crash on her blog “The NieNie Dialogues.” On February 22, 2021, she announced on her blog that after seventeen years, she would end her blogging journey. "Publicly blogging has been such a huge part of my life. It's opened doors for me and my family. I have met and enjoyed friendships with so many people from all over the world! I have been the recipient of so much love, faith, and support and feel so overwhelmed at the goodness of so many strangers. . . . As I have prayerfully considered my life and my priorities now, publicly blogging is 'receding in priority.'"[1]
The impetus for her decision began in 2019 when President Russell M. Nelson promised the women of the Church in his talk "Spiritual Treasures" that if they would examine their lives and shift their focus away from worldly distractions, they would find certain things receding in priority.
On social media, Nielson explained, “For some time now I have felt prompted to let go of blogging. I am after all entering a new chapter of life; Claire is going on a mission, I’m turning 40 this year, my children are getting bigger, and I find myself needing more simplicity, peace, and privacy.”[2]
She concluded her final blog post with "But I want you to know that I believe in Christ. I believe that He blesses our lives when we listen, heed, and obey His words and commandments. I have confidence that He will bless me and my family with the things that we need and desire by letting things recede naturally in our lives. I LOVE YOU!"[3]
Stephanie continued posting privately. Later, she concluded that her blogging was journal writing and posts publicly, although not as frequently. “Someday my grandkids are going to read it and laugh and it’s going to be something that our family’s going to connect over.”[4] In February 2014, she told a RootsTech audience, "“Document your families,” she said. “Document your life. You may not have been through a plane crash, but you do have a story. Everyone has a story, and it needs to be told.”[5]
Their Plane Crash
In 2008, Nielson and her husband, Christian, were in a plane crash and subsequent fire that resulted in burns over 80 percent of her body. She was in a coma for three months then weathered painful treatment that included multiple surgeries, skin grafts, and physical therapy. Her husband's burns were over 60 percent of his body.
Her positive approach to life, her dedication to her family, and her honesty about her recovery led to increased awareness of her blog. She appeared on the "Oprah Winfrey" and "Today" shows. An article about her appeared in People Magazine. She is featured in a popular YouTube “Mormon Message” video for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which she is a member. She is a popular speaker at Brigham Young University Women’s Conference and Deseret Book’s Time Out for Women.
In April 2012, Nielson gave birth to her fifth child. She also published her first book, Heaven is Here: An Incredible Story of Hope, Triumph, and Everyday Joy, which spent several weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
In a stirring October 2013 General Conference address on mental and emotional challenges, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, one of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ, told about her experience and her ability to fight “her way back from the abyss of self-destruction.”[6]
In 2018, Stephanie was awarded a doctorate of humane letters from Utah Valley University for her contributions to empowering women and families. “Stephanie Nielson recognized the powerful role she could play in empowering women in our society through championing their roles as mothers, caregivers and community anchors and found an engaging, interactive blogging platform for her voice,” said Elaine S. Dalton, a former general president of the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The Nielsons live on a ranch in North Carolina where they moved in 2018. They sell “Homestead Beef NC” in Pittsboro. They also bought a Barre3 studio franchise in Pittsboro that will offer a version of a barre workout that combines cardio, mindfulness, and strength.
In June 2022, Stephanie and Christian Nielson joined other burn survivors who were treated at the Arizona Burn Center, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa.
Beauty Rises Charity
In 2015 the Nielsons started a 501(c) (3) public charity in that, according to their website, will “inspire hope and heroism in people who need it most.”[7] As of November 2015, the charity was in the startup phase and planned to officially launch in February 2016 with twelve chapters nationwide. However, the charity no longer functions.
The inspiration for the charity came while Stephanie lay in a hospital bed pretending to be asleep.
- She was avoiding therapists who, in an effort to aid her recovery, came into her hospital room to talk through the trauma she was experiencing after a plane crash that left both Nielson and her husband, Christian, so badly burned that they were placed in medically induced comas. While she knew the therapists meant well, Nielson felt that rehashing the emotions associated with the horrific accident was not helping.
- “I was thinking, ‘What would be helpful to me?’" Nielson said. "And I thought, ‘It would be so great if my therapist or nurse would bring a computer in and say, ‘Check out this girl. She was burned just like you, and look what she’s doing now.’ It would just be so nice for me to sit and watch this woman who went through something very similar to me and now has a beautiful life.”[8]
Her husband speaks of her beautiful life:
- “Stephanie won’t say this, but I can because I’m the president of her fan club,” Christian Nielson said. “There is a phenomenon that happened in Stephanie. When her beauty was physically burned away, it was restored to her, and not because plastic surgeons fixed it or repaired it, although she did receive great care. It rose up from within her. It came up and exposed itself on the surface again because there is a beautiful woman inside that came out and became visible again on the surface.”[9]
The Nielsons were accepting donations to Beauty Rises and planned to create inspiring messages about what beauty is and where it comes from, to expand the website, and to visit the chapters. They eventually hoped to offer scholarships to women whose lives inspire others.
The charity’s name is inspired by a scripture from the Old Testament: “To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isaiah 61:3).
