BraveBirdy

Natalija Semjonova was born November 9th, 1995 in Riga Latvia. At the age of two, her family fled Russian persecution and entered Canada as refugees. Due to her lack of English, she never really paid attention in school and instead began to doodle in her notebooks. Whenever a project included a creative part to it, Natalija was always on top of it, much to her professors’ annoyance as her writing needed many improvements. In 2007 Natalija discovered her love of making animations on the computer with a mouse and MS Paint, and quickly began posting creations on YouTube. Within a year she amassed over one thousand subscribers, mostly kids like herself, which lead to her purchasing her first tablet. 

In 2013 Natalija was contacted by Channel Frederator Network to with them on television shows for children such as Adventure Time and The Fairly Odd Parents. She attended a basic art program at Sheridan College in Oakville, graduated with honours, and now continues her artistic education with the Visual and Creative Arts advanced diploma program at Sheridan. Aside from college training, Natalija is completely self-taught and incorporates her early history of being a refugee into her works. The themes revolve around freedom of expression, freedom of existing, and the desire to survive, showing to viewers that any struggle can be conquered with the right support and belief system.