We are a full service literary agency with a focus on nonfiction, particularly in the categories of physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being.
Stephanie Tade
President & Principal Agent
Colleen Martell, Ph.D. Editorial Director
Ericka T. Phillips Agent
Amanda Hepp Jackson Office and Foreign Rights Manager
More on Stephanie Tade
President and Principal Agent
Books have been at the center of Stephanie Tade’s life since she was a little kid reading under the covers, with a flashlight, way past bedtime. It was no surprise to anyone that she went directly into publishing after graduating Cornell University with a degree in psychology. “The degree will help with authors!” she heard, and having come from a family of artists, musicians and writers, she knew there was truth in that.
She started her career in publicity and subsidiary rights at Bantam Books, learning how to negotiate rights, promote books, and becoming deeply familiar with all the moving parts of a publishing company. Her next chapter was a nearly two-decade stint at one of the most successful literary agencies in the world, the Jane Rotrosen Agency. There she managed her own list of authors while growing the agency’s international department tenfold as Director of film and international rights. From there, she answered the siren song of Rodale Books, and accepted the challenge of running the newly formed editorial book group, where she published such authors as Master Yogi BKS Iyengar, bestselling diet & fitness author Jorge Cruise, and many more. Rodale was boot camp in learning what would make a book profitable, and what levers needed to be pulled in order to make a publisher, and a general market, sit up and take notice.
But the entrepreneur in Stephanie kept her up at night, and the ambition to form her own agency won out in March 2005, when she established the Stephanie Tade Agency, LLC. These days, Stephanie combines her strong business savvy with that childhood love of reading. She excels at strategic career and book planning as well as thoughtful and competitive negotiating. As the years have gone by, the list at STA has been marked by many intelligent, creative authors and experts with something fresh to say to the world. Motivated by an earnest desire to work with books that will benefit individuals, communities, and the world, she has been fortunate to represent and help to build many NYT bestselling authors, including Judith Beck, PhD, Will Bulsiewicz, MD, Frank Lipman, MD, Amy Myers, MD, Chade Meng Tan, and others. Currently, she is on the lookout for major authors on a mission to make the world happier, healthier, and more whole.
More on Colleen Martell, Ph.D.
Editorial Director
Colleen’s voice is often one of the first you will hear when talking to the agency about representation, offering her editorial insights with regard to positioning, shaping, and otherwise developing a book concept, proposal, or manuscript. She is passionate about working with authors on still-germinating first proposal drafts, as well as suggesting those final tweaks to make a proposal or a book sing. For her, each part of the book making journey is an opportunity to find the synergy between an author’s voice and their vision for a better world.
Colleen is a New York Times Bestselling collaborator, for books ranging from health and wellness to memoir and narrative non-fiction. Her first foray into publishing was in middle school, when she published a poem in a vegetarian kids’ magazine. Since then she has published peer reviewed articles, been a staff writer for a popular feminist film blog, written LGBTQIA training workshops, and edited research for a major international institute, among other things. She also has a decade of experience teaching writing to both graduate and undergraduate students. She holds a Ph.D. in English with a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies from Lehigh University.
More on Ericka T. Phillips
Agent
Ericka has a keen eye for nonfiction that inspires, empowers, and transforms. Raised in a creative community of musicians, she brings strategic insight and the same spirit of artistry and fierce advocacy to her work with visionary authors and thought leaders. She specializes in representing spiritual teachers, health and wellness experts, and cultural changemakers—especially those whose work is rooted in mindfulness, healing, and justice. A passionate champion of under-recognized voices, Ericka is especially dedicated to elevating the work of Black women and women of color whose ideas have the power to shape culture and catalyze collective transformation.
With academic training in creative writing and social justice movements, Ericka brings a distinctive blend of editorial acuity, strategic insight, and cultural intelligence to every project she takes on. She has spent over two decades immersed in the mindfulness field, serving as executive director for two major meditation organizations and producing programs with many of the field’s most respected teachers. Before becoming an agent, she consulted for social impact foundations and mission-driven businesses, developing mindfulness-based initiatives and guiding clients in refining their message, brand strategy, and public platform. She also co-founded a beloved Savannah, Georgia restaurant—named for her great-grandmother Dottie—that honored the matriarchs and memories woven into Southern food traditions.
Since joining the Stephanie Tade Agency in 2020, Ericka has become known for her deeply engaged, wholehearted approach to representation. She immerses herself in her clients’ work to advocate with clarity, care, and conviction. She is drawn to authors with bold, visionary messages and a commitment to service—individuals whose work not only informs but helps heal, elevate, and reimagine the world. Lately you can find Ericka somewhere in or between the Lowcountry and New York with her husband, a chef and longtime collaborator, and their two highly opinionated cats.
More on Amanda Hepp Jackson
Office and Foreign Rights Manager
Amanda is a two-time graduate of The College of William & Mary with a Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s of Secondary English Education. After spending over a decade as a high school English teacher (and coach, advisor, club sponsor, and project mentor), Amanda decided to engage with books in a new way—by getting them out into the world instead of teaching them. What Amanda loved about teaching English was discussing big ideas and the human condition with her students—all through our most powerful connector: story. And now it’s her favorite part of her job at the Agency.
She is passionate about books (obviously), coffee, the Oxford comma, plants, cats, walks with her dogs, paddle boarding, learning what it means to be a good human, learning how to raise her kids to be good humans, and anything that encourages us to leave this place gentler than we found it. In her opinion, the best books teach us how to be better stewards of the earth and more compassionate companions for ourselves and each other. A great book leaves us better than we were before we read it.
In the office, Amanda’s is a jack of all trades kind of role: she assists in agenting, reads proposals, handles some office correspondence, manages the calendar, handles foreign rights, and waters (and propagates) the plants. She has been known to rearrange the furniture.
