I’m an illustrator based in Los Angeles and I’ve been drawing and making things my whole life.

I received my undergraduate degrees at UC Berkeley in art (printmaking) and molecular biology, then a masters in Urban Education at UPenn. I taught K-8 science in Philadelphia thinking I’d be a career educator. Though picture books didn’t feature much in the rigid, standardized science curriculum, when I was able to include them, they had an outsize role in engaging my students, conveying concepts, and got me wondering… Could I make picture books?

The first book I remember making was for a class project in the 3rd or 4th grade. I wrote and illustrated a pop-up book about a parrot named Max and a dog named Sandy who can’t stand each other but (spoiler alert!) become best friends after Max’s boastful attitude gets him into trouble with a predator. I loved the book as a medium for visual storytelling, I loved the craft that went into making the book: figuring out the pop-up mechanisms, sewing the signatures, using a bone folder, binding the book and creating a book jacket. I loved getting starred reviews from my classmates and in turn writing reviews for them. It was a little peek into the processes of a world that I’d return to one day.

My debut picture book Play With Me! published in 2017, and since then I’ve illustrated a number of titles- most recently My Lost Freedom by George Takei and Some Days are Yellow by Suzanne Slade. I’m most inspired by the natural world, families, traditions and folktales. In my practice, I find inspiration in the act of observing things very closely, thinking about the things I can’t observe or don’t know, and when I must problem solve or learn something new.

I work from my home in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles where I enjoy cooking, gardening and spying on the urban wildlife that passes through. When not on deadlines for client/commissioned work or books, I enjoy backpacking and camping with my husband, sewing, tackling my (many) manuscripts-in-progress and dreaming up future projects.

Selected Clients and Publications:
Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Sleeping Bear Press, Literati, The Village School

I’m represented by Rosemary Stimola at Stimola Literary Studio.