Brief biography:
Stevonnie Ross was born in Brooklyn on May 10, 1973. (So that's at least two security questions you have answers to.) They were raised in Far Rockaway, went to Queens College as an undergrad, and picked up a master's degree apiece at UMich and Emerson College. Presently they live in the greater New York metropolitan area.
And by "the greater New York metropolitan area" you mean...?
Jersey City. Look, the apartment is rent-controlled, and has views of both the Empire State Building and the World Trade Center.
Why "syaross.org"?
Way back in the day, it was the shortest available personal-name-based domain name they could think of that didn't look terrible. Now that they're no longer using the names in the original set of initials, it stands for "Salutations! You Are Really Outstanding! Sincerely, Stevonnie."
Seriously?
If you believe Yahoo.com was named for "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle," then sure.
Back up a bit. "No longer using the names"?
Yeah, their parents thought they were a boy and named them accordingly. It's kind of funny, I guess. Mistakes were made, court orders have been issued, let's move along.
"Stevonnie" doesn't sound very Jewish.
That's not a question?
What's their Jewish name?
For prayers, fancy invitations, a tombstone, or just casual conversation (if you can read Hebrew), you can use the following:
שולמית מבית נחמן בײנש ופראדיל אדעל
Is that "Shulamis" or "Shulamit"?
They pronounce it "Shulamis," but either is fine.
And how do you pronounce "Stevonnie"?
/steh-VAH-nee/
STEV-uh-nee?
[sigh] No. It's pronounced like Gwen Stefani's last name, just change the F to a V.
What do they do, anyway?
They're a really good copyeditor, and also a singer/songwriter.