“Hey there! My name is Katie McLoughlin and I’m from the northern part of Illinois. I the past I’ve volunteered as sort of a helper in a special needs classroom in a middle school –– superfun! Nowadays I volunteer as a food packer at my local food pantry. I love it.

I’ve always love volunteering because I’ve felt very fortunate to live the life that I have. I’ve also received help when I’ve needed it and I just want to pay it forward.”

“My name is Lara and I have owned a graphic design firm for 30 years in midtown Manhattan. Ten years ago I took a month to travel to Sri Lanka and work with kids who had been traumatized by an ethnic civil war that lasted nearly 30 years. With the end of the war, there was the need to rebuild schools and communities, and I traveled with seven other artists and educators to conduct workshops informed by art therapy that would help children heal through creative self-expression. My particular modality was collage, which seemed to me particularly apropos as it was about creating something from nothing, beautiful artwork from broken bits and pieces.”

“Hi, I’m Liz DiFiore and I’m the current president of the Graphic Artists Guild as well as a freelance children’s illustrator. I’m based in Boston, Massachusetts. Service is really important to my career and has been my entire creative life. I’ve donated graphic design and illustration services to charities that help sexual assault victims, I’ve done graphic design work with the Red Cross of the greater Rochester area, and I continue to serve my industry on the Advocacy Committee of the Graphic Artists Guild, helping to support individual artists’ rights and workers’ rights.

In addition to that, I’m going to be mentoring Montserrat College of Art students this semester. I’m very excited to be able to give art students a lot of the opportunities that I never had going through art school, and just being able to make our industry a healthier, better, more inclusiv place. That means a lot to me.”