Meet The New Found Books Team
ASTRID
Global General Manager
Astrid is an accountant who has worked in Public Practice firms and various companies in accounting roles. She is excited to take on her new role in the new imprint and aims to help and support authors for all their ongoing needs in the publishing market. On a personal note, Astrid is kept very busy with her 4 children and enjoys watching them play sport on the weekend. Astrid loves to travel to different places and experience new scenery and cultures, especially tropical ones where she can soak up the sun every day.
Carly
Production
Carly holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing. She has always had a love for fantastic stories and lively characters - almost to the point of preferring them to real life. Carly has illustrated a couple children's books and continues her publishing career with New Found Books. Other than books she loves alt-rock bands, spending time with loved ones, and playing drums.
Sarah
Production
Sarah has always loved escaping into the world of a good book, especially in the fantasy and adventure genre. She is a Ballarat-based artist and holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts, with a major in ceramic sculpture. Additionally, she also professionally practices painting, drawing, printmaking, and video art. Her artistic work has always been influenced by and shaped through storytelling and a desire to tell stories through her work. Unsurprisingly, her love for reading has had a huge influence on her work, with poetry and folktales creating a strong base in her various portfolios.
Sarah is also an organisation sorceress and loves working in excel sheets and creating daily to-do lists in her stylish diary. New Found Books helps put those skills to use and she is extremely excited to help new and experienced authors on their creative journeys.
Hilary
Marketing
Hilary is a Melbourne-based Media communications student at RMIT. She’s all about Claymation, writing, and film. Always online, she’s a meme enthusiast and avid stalker of all your favourite podcasts. Hilary enjoys getting busy at her local community TV station, doing anything from set design to producing in her free time. She is passionate about books, as this is where stories begin, and is keen to help New Found Books and Playtime books build its presence in the social media and global market space.
Matt
Designer
Matt is an experienced designer who loves storytelling as much as he loves a great cup of coffee. Having a background in visual arts, multimedia, and communication design, Matt uses these varied skills and interests to drive him to create images that express the worlds created by the authors he works with. He’s also a music fan, and lover of fantasy and sci-fi books and film, and enjoys exploring different worlds through tabletop gaming.
Kit
Designer
Kit is a graphic designer, lettering artist, and illustrator who believes there's a Disney song for every occasion, that it's not hoarding if it's books, and in using the oxford comma. Kit specialises in unique hand lettering that makes titles pop and is passionate about creating covers that do justice to an author’s hard work! While she has experience designing across a wide variety of industries and genres, Kit is always a sucker for romance, fantasy and kid’s books.
Liz
Designer
Liz is a designer and relapsed book nerd doing what makes her heart happy – the combination of creativity and structure that is Graphic Design! She loves working with people to come up with the ideal creative solutions to match their hard work. When not designing and drawing – which is most of the time - she enjoys going on adventures with her dogs, archery and spending time in nature.
Melinda
Designer
Melinda has been working in the design industry for so many years now and was formally trained as a graphic designer back in 1986, when they used bromides! Melinda is graphic designer, mother of three, dog owner, swimmer, water polo player. She has worked across digital agencies in London and Melbourne. Melinda has designed branding solutions, designed posters, flyers, business cards, packaging & awesome book covers… the list goes on!
Jess
Designer
Jess is a freelance graphic designer with a background in visual arts. While her main focus is design, she also loves drawing and photography and enjoys exploring how this can influence and inform her work. Other than design, Jess enjoys spending time outdoors and is a passionate trail and ultrarunner, archer, and cyclist.
Katrina
Editing
Katrina is a word nerd and punctuation enthusiast with an Associate Degree in Professional Writing and Editing at RMIT University. She has experience editing a wide range of manuscripts for numerous publishing houses, and is dedicated to supporting emerging authors on their writing journeys. When not reading or writing, she loves playing video games, playing bass and hiking (not all at once, though)
Samantha
Editing
Samantha has been a journalist, editor and digital producer for over a decade and loves the written word. With the belief that everyone has a story to tell, Sam is keen to support dedicated authors to achieve their goal of sharing that story. Passions include family history and finding those stories from the past. Other passions include her own family, gardening, photography, a mellow wine and a well-made coffee.
Aidan
Editing
Aidan is an editor, creative writer, and grammar lover living in Turrbul and Jagera Country. He has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from QUT and has published poetry and short fiction both online and in print. He is passionate about helping other authors tell their stories, bringing out their unique strengths, and ensuring they connect with the emotions of their readers. He’s also a massive nerd who has played (almost) every TTRPG under the sun and read Lord of the Rings more times than he could count.
Steph
Editing
Steph is an experienced freelance writer, editor, and book reviewer. It’s her passion to help connect readers and authors to one another through the power of words. When she doesn’t have her nose buried in a book, Steph enjoys traveling and exploring the great outdoors. She has worked as an editor and freelancer for years and brings a sense of knowing and understanding to her work and to your book's ultimate success. We are grateful to have her working with us.
Isabella
Playtime Illustrator
Hi there! My name is Isabella Gagliano and I’m a Sydney-based Illustrator, animator and overall maker of cute things! Alongside my primary medium of 2D Animation, having recently completed a Bachelors of Animation at UTS, I also enjoy illustration, making sewn handicrafts, merchandise design and costume design!
I’m someone who loves a good story - bringing to life characters with bright colours and a sense of childlike wonder is my favourite thing to do with everything I make and I’m so excited to bring this into my work with Playtime Books!
Emma
Playtime Illustrator
Emma is a Brisbane based illustrator, who grew up in the heart of rural NSW on her family's century old farm. Currently Emma is now following her passion for Children’s Book Illustration, full time, whilst continuing to run her small business on the side. Emma continues to strive to create whimsical, colourful and fun works for kids, and cares deeply about creating worlds, where children can explore interesting, challenging and entertaining topics that broadens their world and fosters their curiosity.
Kim G
Playtime Illustrator
Kim is a Sunshine Coast based illustrator and character designer with a love for all things fantasy! A lifelong avid drawer, in 2019 she graduated with an Honours degree in Design in Animation from the University of Technology, Sydney, and gained work as a character and prop designer/layout artist at Kapow Pictures. She is passionate about bringing joy, intrigue and a taste of adventure through her work and aims to create imagery that inspires the minds and imaginations of her young audience. Besides drawing, Kim’s favourite things to do include reading, travelling, geeking out over movies and TV, finding best places to eat and dancing around to boppy music!
Mona
Playtime Illustrator
After traveling all over the world before moving and living in Australia I’ve always had a passion for the creative arts, going straight into film and television for secondary education. After improving my skills for a few years independently, I came across University to advance my skills in filmmaking and Animation. I started working on a personal project on YouTube accumulating over 2.5 million views collectively with a fan base dedicated to my storytelling and character design. Having finished a Bachelor of Animation, I am constantly exposed to creative environments and learning more programs and methods while working in teams to be ready for industry.
Ella
Playtime Illustrator
Ella is a Sydney based artist with a passion for illustration and 2D animation. She graduated with an Honours degree in Design in Animation at UTS in 2021 and enjoys creating colourful, whimsical characters and worlds, especially for children’s books! Ella is passionate about bringing a sense of imagination and childhood wonder to her work, creating playful illustrations that she hopes will bring a smile to readers of all ages!
