Biographical note

Lauren Hoffmeier was raised in the heart of New York City with a performance background in opera and musical theatre. She is a certified vinyasa yoga instructor and graduate of Boston University. In this brilliant world of oddballs and misfits, she aims to inspire positivity by encouraging an international mindset of joy and uniqueness. Ela Smietanka is a Polish illustrator. Her adventure with drawings started when she was a little girl. In order to make her dreams come true, she graduated from the Faculty of Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, where she now lives with her husband, two sons, a cat named Zuzia, and some other cats from the neighbourhood. She is a freelancer. In her work she combines pencils, paints and Photoshop, happily discovering again and again new digital techniques. When she is preparing draft illustrations, she listens to audiobooks, and with a good novel she may work until dawn. In her free time, she likes to cycle listening to energetic music. If she were to choose a job other than an illustrator, she would be a dancer.