Lea is an artist and early childhood special and general educator. Lea was born and raised in Harlem, New York with their mother, father, and older sister. She earned a BFA in Sculpture with a minor in Ceramics from Syracuse University, where they developed skills and experience working with a wide variety of materials and media. Lea has a passion for exploring new materials; fabricated or found, wood, clay, and metal. They have expertise in many mediums and have delved deeper into her 2-dimensional work such as drawing, pencil, pen, charcoal, paint, watercolor, and collage. Lea is a Master of Science in Early Childhood Special and General Education from Bank Street College of Education.  In combination with her educational expertise and their artistry, Lea has begun writing/illustrating children’s books. Lea uses a combination of collage, watercolor, marker and textured materials. When she was a child looking out into the world, Lea struggled to see herself represented. As a child their mother used to stock up on brown crayons to color in depictions of people in birthday cards and holiday cards so that Lea and her older sister were able to see themselves in this world.  Their home was stocked with as many stories representing children of color, especially Black children, that her parents could get a hold of. These combined experiences have inspired much of Lea's work. 

Prior to Lea’s publishing, her visual art was full of representational sculpture, dramatic portraits and whimsical design. This work has continued to evolve as Lea considers the ideas of gender, race, priviliege, beauty and the human body. While their work may be splashed with color,  covered in texture or in high contrast the intention to notice, ask, wonder and solve problems is always present.  For Lea the process is everything.