Art Day: Faculty Bios

Susie Yi is an author and illustrator who loves to tell meaningful stories. She created SKY PAPER STARS, THE CAT & CAT SERIES and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO CATS. She has a B.A. in molecular & cellular biology from Harvard College and an M.S. in computer science from The University of Chicago. She worked in both healthcare and tech, until serendipity took her on a big pivot into creating books. Storytelling has always been a big passion of hers, and her very first unofficial book was in Kindergarten, with a stack of printer paper and markers. In that year alone, she created nearly one hundred paper "books" for her parents to read! She channels this love of stories into her work today, and her hope is that her books will inspire both kids and adults alike.

Emmy-winning Jorge R. Gutierrez is a Mexican animator, painter, writer and director. He wrote and illustrated: SON OF A HOLLYWOOD, THE ART OF MAY AND THE THREE, DIA DO LE LOS MERTOS, BORDER BANG, and THE ART OF THE BOOK OF LIFE. A CalArts Experimental Animation BFA & MFA graduate, Gutierrez has completed various films, cartoons, and paintings exploring his love affair with Mexican pop and folk culture. Gutierrez was Director & Co-Writer of the Guillermo del Toro produced animated feature The Book of Life (2014), which earned him a 2014 Golden Globe Award nomination. Along with his wife and muse, Sandra Equihua, they created the multiple Emmy Award-winning animated series El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera (2007) for Nickelodeon. Gutierrez most recently created, wrote, and directed the event series Maya and the Three (2021) for Netflix which won four Emmys. Gutierrez is currently writing/directing an animated feature named I, Chihuahua with Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias. He most recently designed and directed the intro for the latest The Simpsons Treehouse of Terror episode.

Emmy award-winning Sandra Equihua is a Tijuana-born artist, designer, and voice actress based in Los Angeles. Sandra illustrated CINDERELLA (Once Upon a World). Sandra received her BFA in Graphic Design at Ibero University in Tijuana, Mexico, and shortly after branched into character design for animated series and films. She has enjoyed working on different projects at Sony, WB, Disney, and Nick Jr. In 2007 at Nickelodeon, with her husband Jorge Gutierrez, she created and designed the multiple Emmy award-winning animated series, El Tigre, The Adventures of Manny Rivera. In 2014 she and her husband once again collaborated to make the animated feature The Book of Life, produced by Guillermo del Toro for 20th Century Fox. She most recently designed and voiced characters for the new limited series Maya and the Three at Netflix.

Kait Lee Feldmann is a children’s book agent at KT Literary. She has been romping around children’s book publishing for the past decade, previously as an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. Her list as editor included award-winning books that received a Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Sibert Honor; the Ezra Jack Keats Award; and appearances on Best of lists for The New York Times, NPR, Kirkus, and more. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award. Kait resides in a hoarder’s paradise in Los Angeles, surrounded by books. She will critique: picture book text, graphic novel text, picture book dummies, graphic novel dummies and do portfolio reviews for illustrations.

Natascha joined The Tobias Literary Agency in 2020 after previously working at BookEnds Literary and Simon & Schuster. Natascha’s editorial philosophy stems from the idea that all books should be well written and entertaining, and that all children should see themselves and their lives in books. Natascha is primarily looking for bold, emotional narratives with layered characters; lyrical and atmospheric writing; voicey genre-blending tales; big stakes; speculative worlds filled with haunting, quietly wondrous magic; sharply funny rom-coms and coming of age narratives; witty and heartfelt picture books; and fearless storytellers tackling big ideas. She loves working with and supporting marginalized authors and their stories, and believes in championing stories that blend literary finesse with commercial appeal. She will critique PB and GN text and dummies.