Amanda Yoshida

Amanda Yoshida first dreamt of becoming a children’s book illustrator when she was a mere toddler, growing up in the suburbs surrounding Portland, Oregon. As a young child, she spent countless hours drawing and studying the artwork inside her stacks of colorfully illustrated books. She favored the rhyming words and silly drawings of Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein, and claimed one day she would be an artist. After years of studying her craft, she began her career as a freelance graphic designer and digital painter in Los Angeles and eventually returned to Portland, Oregon in 2013. While in the midst of growing her own graphic design business, she and her husband welcomed their son, Morgan, into the world. Coming full circle, Amanda rediscovered her love of children's books and was inspired to try her hand at creating The Greatest Wish, primarily as a gift for family and friends. To her delight, the book quickly spread to a number of stores, fully igniting her determination to at last pursue her own greatest wish of writing and illustrating picture books as a career.