Andrea Ipaktchi Milestones

•  Andrea Ipaktchi Illustrator Milestones
  
•  Pennsylvania, 1965: Born at the crack of dawn in a February blizzard into large Irish-Italian Catholic family. Parents hoping for a boy, nickname unsuspecting babygirl, Andy after a favorite late uncle. (Andy greatful  uncle was not named Aldophe or Mitch.)
• New Jersey 1968:  Crayola crayons become favorite for drawing & nibbling.
• Chicago 1970: The Rock&Roll Gogo Girl Cats  pen mural on mother's freshly-painted closet wall on moving day creates sensation: sisters shocked and parents spew scathing review!
• Columbia, Maryland 1973: 3 time Best Artist &  Safety Patroler prizes winner at local elementary school. 
• Columbia, Maryland 1976: Vows to never draw again following loss of a local Easter egg art contest. 
• Norwalk, Connecticut 1976: Earns straight A's in all subjects except for an F in artclass.
• Norwalk, Connecticut 1982: Highschool art teacher, Ed Warner accidentally discovers her hidden artistic nature and force-recruits into art program. Andy drops-off of ROTC roster waiting list. Happiness ensues. Vows to attend Parsons School of Design  despite one-page art portfolio.
• New York City 1983: Parsons rejects application at first portfolio review. Andy settles for state school with brewing plans of revenge pounding in brain.
• New York City, NY 1985: Accepted into Parsons School of Design foundation program. Discovers Maurice Sendak for the first time.
• Paris, France 1987: Paris junior year abroad program choice wins over Kyoto program due to superior breakfast choices; croissants vs fish n' rice.. 
• Paris, France 1987: Graduates with BFA in illustration from Parsons
• New York City 1990: Accepts assistant art director post at small advertising agency. Accepts commission to do weekly comic strip for Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Begins  slew of freelance illustration assignments.
• Paris 1990: works full-time in 3d modeling for automobile simulation for Renault and Sony Playstation. Hones computer-geek tendencies.
• Paris, France 1995: Creates small business for multimedia presentations and animations. Clients include Renault, Hachette Media, Air France, French education minister... 
• 1997  Paris: Marries mysterious, tall, dark and handsome stranger, is welcomed and accepted into tight-knit Iranian community. Happiness ensues and much rice is eaten.
• 1998 Paris :  Gives birth to first son with zenlike nature.
• 2000 Paris: Gives birth to  second son with street-smarts nature.
• 2004 Paris: Discovers non-Hodgekins lymphoma and follows treatment to successful recovery. Vows to work in print media. 
• Paris, France 2005: Hair slowly grows back lusher and shinier than ever. Creates April in Paris, a monthly comic strip about life as an expat published in The Paris Times to present.  Published in print media for parents magazine in UK and France.
• Paris, France 2008: Creates pop-up invitation for ballet The Nutcracker Paris Opera- Arop. Vows to be published in children's market.