who gave her baby up for adoption, an experience which had a profound impact on Stepto. Post-Degrassi High and Planned Parenthood tour (1991-1994) Following the end of Degrassi, Stepto indicated to the Calgary Herald that she was interested in further pursuing her acting career, and stated that she was particularly interested in playing destructive, "psychotic" characters. However, she said that she experienced typecasting as a result of her previous role. She claimed she would also sabotage her own auditions to avoid getting roles in series she disliked, including the YTV musical drama series Catwalk, which she derided as a "cheesy low-budget show", and felt this may have contributed to her difficulty in continuing her acting career. During 1991 and 1992, Stepto starred in the play Flesh and Blood, written by Colin Thomas, about several young adults dealing with AIDS; the play won a Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for playwriting in 1991. In 1992, she was appointed a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in Alberta. Stepto visited Calgary as a representative of the organization in September 1992. Starting from May 1993, Stepto undertook a 37-stop tour of schools across the province to promote a campaign by Planned Parenthood; a viewing of the Degrassi Talks episode she hosted was optional. On 28 April 1993, the Calgary Herald reported that three Albertan schools had refused Stepto's presentation, though two of the schools later said that they were not aware of the program. In addition, Stepto also appeared in television, radio, and print advertisements promoting the "Just Talk About It" campaign during September 1992. Acting career difficulties and Degrassi: The Next Generation (1995-present) In 1995, she starred in a supporting role in the Su Rynard short film Big Deal So What, playing the friend and colleague of the protagonist. She eventually left the acting business to concentrate on school. At the 2022 Toronto Comicon, Stepto explained that she had extreme difficulty pursuing a career in acting following the show; the roles she was offered were usually similar to Spike, and she was directly rejected for being too well-known as Spike. Additionally, she said that producers would constantly tell her that she was "too short", "too fat", or "cheeks are too full", and eventually she was "tired of all that bullshit" and left the acting business to pursue other endeavors. She returned to reprise the role of Spike in Degrassi: The Next Generation, which