My mom would take me to the arts and crafts store growing up. It was one of my favorite places in the world to go. It started with graphite pencils, some sketch pads and a few “How to Draw” books. Drawing came naturally to me. When I looked at a reference photo, I would break the character down line by line. “This line goes this way, for this long, and this one goes that way for this long”. Later in life through proper art classes, I would come to learn it was better to break reference characters and items down into shapes, but my line trick worked well for me being self-taught. Outside of the “How to Draw” books I notably learned to draw by looking at VHS movie covers. I occasionally drew friends as well, but my passion was in character line illustrations.

For several years into my early-mid twenties, I didn’t draw much as I was preoccupied with other hobbies like dance and paragliding…yes, you read that right. For years, I would spend my time flying thousands of feet in the air dangling by a piece of nylon cloth. It wasn’t until I moved back to the states after a year and half backpacking and paragliding around the world, to be with my (now) husband, that I decided to pick up art again as I wanted a hobby that kept my feet on the ground.

As I explored watercolor, I began to get requests for commission for pet portraits. It started with coworkers, family and friends and circled by word of mouth. In 2017, I decided to further my skill set and began taking art classes. It was in a children’s book animal illustration class at the University of California San Diego Extension that I was introduced to scratchboard for the first time. I fell head over heels in love with the medium with the first few marks. It was a powerfully dramatic medium that completely won me over.

It wasn’t until 2024 that I decided to explore digital illustration as I was looking to work with a medium that I could take on the go. It was this, combined with my reignited love for children’s books as I read to my son, Oliver, that I felt a rush to push my passion further by bringing my imagination to life with my first children’s book, “The Biggest and Brightest Star in the Sea”.

I have loved creative writing for as long as I can remember. I would go with my mom to the bookstore and my favorite section was the journal section. I’ll admit that I used to get inspired based on the cover of the journal…I was all about the beautiful cover images and motivational quotes. In elementary school, I joined the writing club which is where I “published” my first two books. They were short stories about horses. I drew the covers in pastels and typed up the stories with help of my teacher. They were printed, laminated and bound with staples.

I continued journaling throughout my adolescence, and in high school, I took a creative writing class in which I further explored my love for poetry. Leading into my adult years, I began blogging as I traveled the world, continuing to fuel my creative writing muse. Fast forward to where I am at today, my passion has flourished into combining my love for both writing and art as I look to bring my imagination to life. I am continuously inspired by other author-illustrators like Katy Hudson, Ryan T. Higgins, Andrea Zuill, and Mike Wu.