Mel Hilario is a writer who empowers readers by helping them understand the world around them. She received her MFA in creative writing from Mills College, has been a recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation Grant and residencies at VONA (Voices of our Nations Arts), Las Dos Brujas Writers Workshop, Writing by Writers, and Hedgebrook. She has developed characters for toy lines, masterminded educational workbooks, and written wrenching essays, most recently for the Kindred Souls anthology Angry Women. She lives in Oakland, California, with two of the largest cats her friends have ever seen.

Lauren Davis almost became a lawyer but found that her love of research and sharing weird facts was better suited to comics. After receiving her JD from the Georgetown University Law Center, Lauren wrote for several years at the speculative fiction blog io9 and eventually got her MFA in comics at the California College of the Arts. In addition to making comics, Lauren is a teaching artist and a longtime organizer of San Francisco Zine Fest. She also collected, edited, and published the comics anthologies The Comic Book Guide to the Mission and Sci-Fi San Francisco. Her 12-year-old self would be proud that she wrote a book about unicorns.

Katie Longua has the power to make anything more magical. She has designed toys, developed video games, created logos, illustrated comic book covers, and drawn frame-worthy infographics. Her self-published comics include the award-winning RÖK, Her Space Opera, and Munchies. She’s done work for BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Image Comics, IDW Comics, Oni Press, Tapas Media, the San Francisco Exploratorium, Girls Make Games, Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls, and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates. With a personal color palette that is both art and manifesto, she lives in a haunted house with her partner, Josh, and a small army of transforming robots.