Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight

Early life and education

Stephenson-Goodknight is of Serbian descent. She is the granddaughter of Paulina Lebl-Albala, an active feminist who was the president of the University Women of Yugoslavia. David Albala, her grandfather, was a physician and Zionist leader, who served for a period as president of Belgrade's Sephardi community. At a young age, she displayed a keen interest in world culture, but was discouraged by her father from pursuit of a career in anthropology; instead she completed a Master of Business Administration degree.

Stephenson-Goodknight worked at creating articles on geography, architecture and various biographies for several years, but has more recently concentrated on women's biographies. and has made over 100,000 edits. The 2016 Wikipedian of the Year awards, granted by Wikipedia trustee Jimmy Wales in recognition of outstanding achievement, named Stephenson-Goodknight as a winner, sharing the award jointly with fellow editor Emily Temple-Wood. She has taken part in related projects such as the Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon in April 2016.

Stephenson-Goodknight believes there is information to write stronger biographies, provided people are prepared to search for it. She also suggests it is possible for women to contribute greatly to Wikipedia, explaining, "What Wikipedia needs is you, the female editor, with your unique aptitudes and interests and talkpage tone. Without you, gender imbalance and systemic bias continue on Wikipedia."

On January 23, 2020, Wikipedia announced that Stephenson-Goodknight was the creator of the 6,000,000th article on Wikipedia, namely the article on Canadian author Maria Elise Turner Lauder.

Awards and distinctions Elevation of Stephenson-Goodknight to a Dame of the St. Sava Order of Diplomatic Pacifism, May 2018 On December 14, 2017, Goodknight was the "honored guest" at an event hosted by Israel's ambassador to Serbia, Alona Fisher-Kamm, to commemorate 25 years of diplomatic relations between Serbia and Israel.

On May 29, 2018, in a ceremony conferring honors on those who deserved high diplomatic recognition, Stephenson-Goodknight was appointed a "Dame of the St. Sava Order of Diplomatic Pacifism" by Deputy Serbian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić, for her work on Wikipedia to preserve the memory of Serbs in the "hundred years since the Great War". Mention was specifically made of her contribution towards preserving the memory of the Serbian military officer and Jewish community leader, her grandfather David Albala. in Las Vegas as a business administrator for a healthcare company, and has homes in that city and in Nevada City, California.