I was born on December 1974, I grew up in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.  I feel very fortunate to be born in such diverse and beautiful country. As a little girl I spend my time between drawing sketches, story and activity books, dictionaries and animal encyclopedias. As a child and teen I dedicated myself to explore my artistic side and took art courses, drawing and painting gave me so much fulfillment.

I pursue a biology degree at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. During my career I had the opportunity to visit so many national parks, remnants of forest and picturesque towns in my country. I studied a group of scarab beetles for my thesis, they are still my favorite animals.

When I graduated, I worked for the World Health Organization on a project about Chagas disease in Ecuador. I learned so much about this tropical disease but especially I felt deep sympathy for the people. I learned how important it is to educate our people about biology, our lives and well being depend on it.

A year later I decided to keep going with my career as an insect specialist so I pursued a graduate diploma in entomology.  That brought me to the United States, to Lincoln-Nebraska, where I obtained a masters degree in entomology.  Being at the University of Nebraska gave me the opportunity to travel to Canada, Brazil, Guatemala, and other US states to present my work on scarab beetles. It also gave me the opportunity to work with great scientists and co-authored scientific articles and publish some on my own.

I worked hard pursuing my dream as a biologist, but during all those years I felt I was missing my artistic side.  Every opportunity I had I was also pursuing drawing.  I took a course on scientific illustration and that was a great fit to study and draw nature for scientific articles.  Later, I got a job at the University of Nebraska State Museum, where I studied my masters.  My job was to draw for scientific articles and to design and update a guide to scarab beetles published in the Internet.  That opened my eyes to the idea of utilizing both passions, biology and illustration. 

During this journey, I met my husband in Nebraska.  He is an environmental specialist, so we share this deep appreciation for nature.  We live in Nebraska, always with the idea to someday live in Ecuador, our beloved tropical country.  Together we founded Bio-graphica International to serve the scientists and to educate the community in environmental issues. Now we have a daughter, she is two but she already knows so much about nature and respects it deeply, she is a bookworm that loves animal and plant books and National Geographic magazines.  She inspired me to create nature books for kids. I think childhood is the perfect age to learn that we are part of nature and we have to love and respect it in order to survive. 

She is my first book’s reviewer and I really value her input.   If you see her with her books you will think she will be a biology teacher, but if you ask me I think she will be a talented and glamorous performer.  Maybe she will be able to combine both of her passions just like her mom.

My mom is a math teacher and a craft artist.  She is like a mythical character; the kind that in the outside looks little and fragile but has the strength and power of a giant.  When I was a little girl, before bedtime she read me stories that I can still remember today word by word.  She taught me the value of education, the love for books and the power of imagination and hard work.  She has supported my artistic side and admired my love for nature.  She is my biggest fan but also my toughest critic and I thank her for that.

I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with my grandma.  She was as strong as a hurricane.  I have never seen such strong nature and determination inside a lady so gracious, loving and funny.  She taught me to love life, to laugh like a child, and to appreciate someone’s longing memories and stories.

My brother is five years older than me and he was so knowledgeable that when I was little he was my hero.  He always had an exceptional ability to create things out of every possible material.  Now he is an industrial designer and an architect, I cannot think of a better profession for him.  He taught me the power of creativity and the conviction that what you create in your mind can be turned into a reality.  He will always be my hero.

Now you know who I am. I really hope you enjoy reading my books. I also hope they will inspire you and children around you to admire and nurture our planet.