Born in the South Bronx, Ivan Velez has used cartooning to help create social change for over 40 years. ‘Tales of the Closet’ was one of the first publicly distributed interventions for LGBT youth. Starting his pro comics career at the multicultural MILESTONE, he wrote several mainstream comics series and helped install diversity of color, gender and orientation. His work continued for Marvel and DC Comics and has been included in several award-winning comic anthologies, and is translated and shown in three continents. Ivan is also a teaching artist for New York libraries and museums, and is proud to be the creator of The Ballad of Wham Kabam, a comic series funded by the 2015 Creative Capital Visual Arts grant.