Stella Renee Johnson is one of the two main characters in the romantic comedy novel Sparks Fly, written by American bi author Zakiya N. Jamal.
Sparks Fly is an office romance novel centered on the relationship between Stella Renee Johnson and Maximo “Max” Martinez Williams, two modern New Yorkers who meet in an unusual place — at a sex club, where they instantly connect. However, things become far more complicated when Stella discovers that Max is the CEO of a major AI company, the older brother of her boss, and the creator of the very AI program threatening her career as a young quiz writer at a struggling magazine. The novel is dedicated to the romantic relationship between Max and Stella, both of whom are bi and black.
Stella is a half-Cuban, half-Jamaican woman who is open with her friends about her bisexuality.
Stella is a strong challenge to the stereotype that bi people are automatically sexually experienced or promiscuous. Since she is almost thirty years old, but she is a virgin. She has no doubts about being bi — she is attracted to men, women, and non-binary people — but despite that, she has never had a relationship before meeting Max, and she is already confident in her identity before the romance begins. Stella is secure in her attraction to multiple genders, even if she has spent time thinking through whether bi, pan, or queer fits her best.
Just like Max, she hates common stereotypes about bi people, but unlike Max, due to the scrutiny of the world, she does not often say out loud that she is bi, even if all the close people in her life know it.
When dating, Stella didn’t often tell people right out the gate that she was bi. Guys could be weird about it because they automatically assumed that meant she’d be down for a threesome. Women could be weird about it because they assumed she was only trying out being a lesbian and would go back to men once she was done experimenting. One time, a woman literally told Stella she didn’t want to date someone who had no experience with a woman, and Stella said, ‘I barely have any experience with men!’
This also helps her accept other people’s identities and the mistakes people can make while discovering themselves:
Many Black women unfortunately felt that men who said they were bisexual were actually gay men on the down low, just with a new label. Stella didn’t feel that way. If someone, no matter their gender, told her they were bi, she believed them. Besides, sexuality was fluid, so even if someone said they were bi and then later realised they were gay, she wouldn’t hold it against them, as long as they were honest about it.
She has a lot of friends across the LGBTQ spectrum and considers herself part of the community. At the same time, she is not trying to force herself to change her behaviour according to stereotypes about how a typical bi person “should” behave.
Her relationship with Max during the novel makes her a more confident person and helps her become more comfortable with being openly bi.
Stella is generally a good representation of a bi black woman. She may especially resonate with bi women of colour, late bloomers, and readers who are confident in their sexuality even without having had much dating experience. Want to read more about Stella and Sparks Fly? Check out our Bi Book Club review of the novel here!