Rebuilding Lahaina for NBC News

What a way to wrap up 2023! NBC News reached out to 11 people (survivors, residents, government officials, and community members) to share their vision of what Lahaina’s future looks like after the devastating August ‘23 Maui wildfires —and I illustrated five of them:

1. Maui Mayor Richard Bissen: Prioritizing housing, childcare and wider pedestrian walkways

2. A principal and school leader: keeping the next generation local

3. A Filipino immigrant whose family of 50 was displaced: hope for more multigenerational housing

4. Preservationists restoring Hawaiian Kingdom-era structures: hopeful about rebuilding on top of former king’s lava rock and coral foundations

5. The tourism authority: pushing for increased agrotourism, allowing tourists to give back on their trip

➡️ The full article can be read on NBCNews.com here.
Mahalo nui art director, Chelsea Stahl!

❤️‍🩹 Please read my last post about how you can help Lahaina here.

Girls on Wheels!

🥳 It’s official! My first picture book, Girls on Wheels is here! I’m so excited to see it skate its way on to physical and digital bookshelves.

This book was written by the wonderful Srividhya Venkat, and illustrated by yours truly. The story is inspired by the real life skateboarding revolution happening in India, and follows three friends as they fly, fall, and find the courage to get back up on their boards and try again.

Or from the following vendors:

Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Target, Powell’s, Walmart

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Check out our interview on the Picture Book Buzz

Maria Marshall chats with Srividhya Venkat and Kate Wadsworth + Review of Girls on Wheels.

Girls On Wheels Cover Reveal!

This has to be the coolest announcement I've ever made... a dream project that I have been working on for the past year. Here is the cover reveal of Girls on Wheels, my first picture book! Published by Kokila (an imprint of Penguin Random House ...what!??)

Written by the wonderful Srividhya Venkat, the book is inspired by the skateboarding revolution in India, and follows three little girls as they fly, fall, and find the courage to get back up on their boards and try again.

I'm so stoked to have helped bring Sana, Anila and Damini to life, under the excellent guidance of Art Director Jasmin Rubero and Executive Editor Joanna Cárdenas🙏

Girls On Wheels will officially be available next August, but is currently up for pre-order online at the following retailers:

• Penguin Random House

• Amazon

• Barnes & Noble

• Books A Million

• Bookshop.org

• Hudson Booksellers

• IndieBound

• Target

• Powell’s

• Walmart

Los Angeles Times

Very excited to have an editorial illustration published by the L.A. Times!

The illustration was featured in the L.A. Affairs section, a popular segment about dating and love. The corresponding article, written by Dawn Stutzman, is about her risk to leave Los Angeles to find love in Maui (spoiler alert: the stars align and she stumbles upon her own personal “Aquaman” in a local captain of a whale watching boat.)

Read Dawn’s article here.

Image courtesy of Kay Scanlon

The article, was printed in this weekend’s news stands, and can be viewed on the Los Angeles Times website, and/or Apple News!

Big thank you to art director Jan Molen for opportunity!

HECO X Hawaii Business Magazine

I’m so excited to share my first editorial illustration with Hawaii Business Magazine in this month’s issue, for a series called Hawaiʻi of Tomorrow, presented by Hawaiian Electric --which “summons the optimistic spirit of practical imagination to think about what Hawai‘i would look like in 2050, with special consideration on the challenges of the coming decades.”
My illustration was created for Part 3: “Revitalizing Communities with Streams and Sunlight.”

My creative process evolved in many ways during this project, but thanks to an amazing team, AD Kelsey Ige and writer Matt Ige, we created a futuristic take on Indigenous systems that have existed for generations. The illustration depicts a literal and metaphorical yellow brick road to bring solar power, water power, and self sufficiency throughout local communities of the future☀️ Read the article online here.

(Predicting the future is tough stuff, but I do know that bowl cuts will never be in or go out of fashion.)