I grew up as the daughter of a diplomat in smoggy Beijing, China. I remember the coal dust in the air, the sweet potato sellers on the street with their oil-drums filled with coal to cook them on, the families from all over the world that lived in my building.

I once had a pet squirrel for a day. My ai yi brought it home to me as a present and I (of course) let it out of the cage. My family spent the whole day trying to catch it (it was finally caught by a make-shift trap- a pencil tied to a string propped under a garbage can)

I began drawing as a way to process and document my many international moves across the world. I love drawing journeys of characters traveling, exploring, or moving to and from other countries, I love simple stories that are self-reflective. I love children's rhyming or funny stories that make you laugh. Fun, playful stories that can be read again and again. I especially love stories that are personal, authentic, and different.

I love experimenting with texture and color, whether it be digitally or with watercolors. I love using brush and ink as a base for many of my illustrations, and color washes over top.

I love drawing people. I love vivid facial features and expressions, simple line work that define features, and gestural drawings that express shape and simplicity. I build my worlds with sketching, then inking in, and then color on top. My environments are playful and detailed, bright and colorful. I am inspired by different cultures, fashion, architecture, and history, which I like to weave into my character's appearance and environments.