author/illustrator/kids yoga teacher/middle school mentor/toddler's dance instructor/protagonist of my story/lover of people/friend to the Earth/life of the library/first to dance/last to leave a costume party/always planning my next trip/always learning/creating art with hardship/never boring = never bored.

____

Daja is an author, teacher, learner, and maker based in Los Angeles. She lives to create through several mediums of art, such as creative directing, poetry, illustration, and modeling.

Throughout elementary school, she took pleasure in creating comic books and writing stories. Around the age of 10, she was influenced by always seeing her mother paint and her uncle doodle, resulting in the constant habit of drawing everywhere she went. Her drawing style has always been heavily inspired by skate culture and newspaper comics.

She went on to draw comics for her middle and high school newspapers and win county writing competitions. Having strict parents meant being alone in her room a lot, resulting in years of living in books and sketchbooks. An essay assigned by her junior year AP English teacher revealed her knack for spoken word poetry, where she still focuses her inspiration to this day.

She exercises poetry as her main means of expression, but also uses cinematography (creative directing and modeling) as well as illustrating to pronounce her art. Her most common themes are healing, emotion, spirituality, love, and the divine feminine.

Daja is now working on a children’s book, an adult cartoon, and an album. She also teaches art, yoga, and dance to kids. More is to come. Others are invited to join.