Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Maria Isabel Sánchez Vegara, born in Barcelona, Spain, is a writer and creative director in constant search of new concepts for children’s books. In 2014, she created a book for her two twin nieces for their birthday, which shortly thereafter became the first book in the Little People, BIG DREAMS series. This multimillion-copy bestselling series of picture books explores the lives of outstanding people. From Mahatma Gandhi to Aretha Franklin, to Prince, Sánchez Vegara researches complex careers and makes them accessible to young children, with her unique and mindful style of writing. She works with a diverse team of illustrators to make each book lively, eye-catching and motivating. Working for more than fifteen years for clients in top advertising agencies, her books combine creativity with learning, aiming to establish a new and fresh relationship between children and pop culture.
Yelena Bryksenkova
Yelena Bryksenkova was born in St Petersburg, Russia, grew up in Cleveland, and studied illustration at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore and the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague, Czech Republic. Now living in Los Angeles, Yelena works as a freelance illustrator and fine artist for clients such as Anthropologie, Apartment Therapy, Chronicle Books, Flow Magazine, The New York Times, and Urban Outfitters. Her small pen and acryla gouache paintings are inspired by her love of home and the comfort of everyday objects, as well as more magical, mysterious and melancholy themes. Yelena has 49k followers on Instagram, and her Etsy shop has received 21,767 favourites.