Alana Ladson is a painter and illustrator currently working between Connecticut and NYC. She was chosen to be a 2022 We Need Diverse Books Mentee and has completed illustration and design work for organizations and events such as the New Haven Arts Council, Women Who Create, DiasporaCon, Music Haven, and more. She has exhibited works at Loomis Chaffee’s Mercy Gallery, Artspace, and The New Haven Free Public Library. Alana also created and led The Rooted Collective. The Rooted Collective is an exploratory artist collective and fellowship program that brings together a small group of BIPOC women and nonbinary folks to create art and explore themselves and their practices in New Haven, CT. In her spare time, Alana loves to read books, play video games, and eat food.