Hola!

My name is Mari Tirado, and I was born and raised in Barranquilla-Colombia, home of one of the world's largest carnivals on the planet: El Carnaval de Barranquilla. I moved to Miami 20 years ago to do my internship after five years of medical studies, but I was not in love with that career. My mother always told me that talent without dedication was nothing. Neither talent nor dedication I had in the medical field. 

I always loved art, and I knew I could draw, so I started learning Illustrator and Photoshop on YouTube. Then I had the opportunity to paint some murals for a preschool in Miami, study some theater, and English as a second language while I bartended for years. My husband and our two kids moved to Perdido four years ago (he is from Spanish Fort, AL), looking for a quiet place to raise the kids. Since then, I enrolled in PSC for Graphic Design, working my way through the art industry! 

I have worked on several art commissions including murals, single pieces, graphic design, digital illustration, etc. As I said, talent and dedication are important, but life showed me that those need OPPORTUNITY, and I am thankful for the ones I have had. 

Photo by Megan Renee