Born and raised in Chicago, Ivon loved everything about her native city; particularly the arts. Her introduction to art began in elementary school with the dedicated and inspirational Ms. Irene Boutzarelos who did more than just hand out construction paper and crayons.
From that initial spark, Ivon explored every available art and photography course all the way through public school and into Columbia College, paying her way by working in a nearby photolab in Winnetka, Illinois.
Eventually, she continued on to the International Academy of Merchandising and Design (now the International Academy of Design and Technology) and received a thorough introduction to the world of multimedia.
She was only past her first semester, working as a junior web developer when she wound up on the wrong side of a moving dump truck. After months of surgery and physical therapy, she was able to return to school and work.
Around that time, the web industry found itself on the receiving end of its own crash. Ivon expanded her education to include Java and programming. Saturday mornings as a kid had included the 3D animated series 'Reboot', and, years later, she would inevitably see Pixar's feature film 'Toy Story'.
This was art and technology merged in the form of animation and she had found the creative outlet for which she had been searching. The first school that came to mind was Full Sail in Orlando, Florida, a school devoted to multimedia technologies and one that she'd considered attending earlier.
Following her graduation in July 2005, she has continued to network within the art community, hone her skills, and search out new opportunities in the rapidly expanding field of computer animation.
