Bronx-born Ivan Velez learned to use cartooning to help create social change. His comic book series, Tales of the Closet, was one of the first interventions for LGBTQ youth. Velez later joined Milestone to create multicultural superheroes, wrote comics for Marvel and DC, and has even been included in several award-winning anthologies. He is now a popular teaching artist for organizations such as the New York Public Library and the Bronx Museum of the Arts.