About Me

Person wearing sunglasses and a red sweater standing by a river with rocky landscape

Hi, I'm Jessica

I am, and always have been, an avid lover of the arts, what with drawing, dancing (first ballet, then Chinese classical dance), and cello all taking up a majority of my life.

Today, I'm known as a graphic designer and illustrator with a particular love of designing for print, and a penchant for food illustration, among many other things.

I am a person of many interests and hobbies, finding it easy to get swept up in new things all the time. As a result, the artwork I produce often has to do with whatever I'm interested in at the moment, and is greatly influenced by my everyday life, and the people around me.

My Story

When I was four years old, I told my mom "I want to be an artist someday." I must have wholeheartedly wanted that as a child, but I was slapped with reality by many people throughout my life: "you won't be able to make a living as an artist," "that's so brave of you to pursue your passion, knowing you won't have financial stability," and so on. People often told me that I would end up as a "starving artist." At some point, I gave up on my artist dreams, and settled for it simply being a hobby, rather than my career.

Today, I could not be happier that I have made it to where I am now. I love what I do with every fiber of my being, and I truly hope to bring joy to others through my artwork.

From silly projects to serious ones, I have poured my heart and soul into every piece.

Visual Storytelling • Cultural Communication • Book Design • Community-Oriented Creative Work

Growing up Chinese-American, I did not appreciate everything my parents were trying to teach me nearly as much as I do now. I am forever grateful to my parents for teaching me not only about my culture, but immersing me in it: pushing me to take language classes and speak my native language at home so that I can communicate with my extended family use my skills in my work, and further connect with my roots.

I am somewhat ashamed to admit that there was a time where I simply ignored little comments here and there. There were comments that mocked my culture, and I ignored it, thinking to rise above that other people think. There were jokes that weren't funny, because somehow, I ended up being the butt of the joke, simply due to my ethnicity. There were times where I laughed along, uncomfortably, just to keep the peace and not cause conflict. Over and over, things that belong to my culture are rebranded as if they are from others, just because there is some kind of inherent negative connotation with something being Chinese.

I have learned along the way that keeping my head down and not making waves is not the way I want to live. I love my culture, love learning about where I came from, love sharing it with other people: telling stories... eating food...

One of my main goals as an artist now is to shine a light on my culture and share it with the world, in hopes that misconceptions begin to get clarified, and simply out of pride for where I came from.

Representation • Craftsmanship • Meaningful Narratives • Connection • Community

While I aim to have a series of larger projects and perhaps heavier topics, I also love to make work based on my day-to-day life.

I have two beautiful cats and a wide variety of interests and hobbies. I like to design things that make my life easier, funnier, more beautiful, etc. Between everything in my life, I am frequently coming up with new ideas for little projects, ones that I never thought others would love as well, but here I am, after many requests from friends and family, finally ready to share those little things with everyone else as well.