My earliest memory of being an artist is third grade. I had no idea what that actually meant or how to make a career as an artist. Once I saw the work of Ernie Barnes on the TV show "Good Times", I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to create art with people of color in their everyday settings, people like me, that I didn't see anywhere. I didn't see them in the books and magazines I was reading, the dolls I was playing with, or the art I saw on the walls of the museums. Growing up in rural Minnesota as a Latina in the 80's, I was not surrounded by many people of color. The population was primarily white and I yearned for more exposure to people that looked like me. I prioritize my work in advocacy and representation of multicultural people, communities of color, women, and social justice for this very reason. I want to contribute to the movement for social change and the acceptance of all people. I want to play my part in ensuring a little Brown child sees themselves in an illustration in a children's book, in a painting hanging in a gallery space, or their beauty depicted on a wall in the middle of a neighborhood. I want them to know they matter and that they have a place in this world.