Marissa Valdez 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 in Fine Arts, and then came back to Texas where she currently resides with her two extremely vocal cats. She loves to illustrate stories that are overflowing with humor, wit, and totally out-there situations, like Who Wet My Pants or Stuck. If there’s a tough and lovable female lead, that’s a huge plus! 

Through her colorful and uplifting illustrations, Valdez brings to life the story of Ambitious Girl, by Meena Harris. On March 24, Valdez joined NWHM for a special Brave Girl Virtual Storytime reading of Ambitious Girl, a book that explores the challenges faced by women and girls and the ways in which they can reframe, redefine, and reclaim words meant to knock them down. 

Where do you find inspiration for work? 

Books are an incredibly important source of inspiration for me. As an adult, I try to read 20 or more picture books a week (I think it’s the best part of my job!) to get inspiration from other authors and illustrators. And as a kid, I always had my nose in a book! One of my favorites was A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle. Her story was so beautifully written and fantastical that I couldn’t help but draw inspiration from it.

As your illustrations depict courageous girls, what type of discussion do you hope your work generates? 

I hope the books I illustrate and my own stories generate discussion around why it’s okay to be ambitious as a kid, and especially as a girl. In my own experience, I wasn’t really encouraged as a child to take risks and to fail. Working towards your ambitious goals, whether they’re to be an astronaut or an activist or to read 10,000 books in your lifetime, failure is bound to happen at some point. I think we need to teach girls that failure doesn’t mean you should give up, it means you pick yourself up and march forward.

What women artists influenced your career? 

One woman artist who’s inspired me since I was a kid is Frida Kahlo. I remember seeing her work for the first time; I was totally mesmerized. She showed so much emotion in her paintings. I loved how confident she was in painting exactly what she was feeling on the inside. As a young Hispanic girl, it was also really inspiring to see world famous paintings made by a Mexican woman. 

Once a women’s history museum is built, what type of exhibitions would you like to see displayed?

Ah! This is an easy question! A children’s illustration exhibit of course! There are so many women in the children’s book world that have defined the industry like Jessie Wilcox Smith, Mary Blair, Beatrix Potter, Faith Ringgold and more. I would also like to see a whole children’s illustration exhibit that highlights children’s illustrators from marginalized backgrounds, which is an exhibit I’ve never encountered before but I think should be much more common.