Miami, FL

Amalia Garrido

As a child, I begged my parents to take me to Michael's. I spent hours crafting, collecting objects, and constructing miniature worlds from whatever materials I could find.

I received my first pair of glasses at six years old and lost them for nearly a year at seven. My astigmatism and myopia persisted regardless. Restless and endlessly curious, I moved through the world with my attention pulled in many different directions at once.

At barely four feet tall, I accompanied my parents to gallery visits and poetry readings after work, absorbing fragments of conversations while becoming captivated by the details around me.

Long before I encountered design formally, I had an instinct to organize and curate: arranging the art on my walls, obsessing over the layouts of rooms and dollhouses, and composing spaces I felt drawn to. Making sense of the world visually came naturally to me.

That instinct became tangible in high school through yearbook, where what began as curiosity evolved into both expression and an outlet for my growing creativity.

I now study Integrated Visual Arts, working across editorial, identity, and visual systems. I came to design through making rather than formal training, developing my practice through long-form publications, campus-based projects, and independent work.

My yearbook work has received First Place recognition for Cover and Divider Design from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, as well as All-American distinction from the National Scholastic Press Association, placing the publication among the top scholastic yearbooks nationally. Additional honors include All-Florida recognition from the Florida Scholastic Press Association and All-Southern distinction from the Southern Interscholastic Press Association.