Forty Under 40: Stephanie Malone

Stephanie Malone’s entire professional life has been centered around driving economic development for Fort Smith, and that’s what she intends to do for the coming years, she said.

A 2000 University of Arkansas graduate with a bachelor’s in journalism, Malone, 31, was hired as the communications director for the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce.
She worked there for six years and completed the community development institute at the University of Central Arkansas.

She left the Chamber in late 2006 and went to work for an ad agency, but in February
2007 she got a call asking if she would consider running for office.

“Uncle John [Boozman] said ‘You should go for it,’” she said with a laugh. But she didn’t want anyone to know she was related to the congressman. “I wanted to win on my own merit.”

So she went campaigning door-to-door. “It’s really the only way to get to talk with constituents,” Malone said.

In November 2008, she won by a double-digit margin and became the youngest female Republican ever elected in Arkansas House of Representatives.

Malone joined the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority in June 2008 as the marketing director. She’s revamped the FCRA’s marketing campaign, which is focused on the reutilization of the 4,600-acre property.

For the future, Malone hopes to help raise the quality of life in Fort Smith.