Marissa Valdez

"MassArt was my gateway to the world of art. I come from a small town in Texas, so living in Boston and experiencing the culture around the school expanded my horizons in a way that I will be forever grateful for. The people I met, the teachers I had, and the safe environment that I created art in helped cultivate a love for art and risk taking in me that wasn’t there before MassArt. While I didn’t pursue what I received my degree in, the skills I learned at MassArt helped me land, in my opinion, the best job in the world: being a full-time children’s book illustrator!"

Marissa Valdez (@marissaarts) is a Latinx author–illustrator who grew up on the South Texas border dreaming that one day she could draw for a living. She moved to Boston where she received a BFA from MassArt in animation, but now works as a children’s book illustrator.