Irma Velasquez
Irma Velasquez is an author, educator, and artist born in El Salvador and immigrated to Northern California in the 1960s. She earned her degree in Economics at the University of San Francisco. In 2022, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of San Francisco for her social impact on education, the arts, and the neurodiverse community in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her memoir Fish Dreams ~ A Mother’s Journey from Curing Her Son's Autism to Loving Him as He Is is meant to be a guide for parents to help them navigate life with their neurodiverse child. She is an abstract painter who uses her creative expression to untangle the barriers in her social and personal life. She starts by creating structure, a ritual, space, and an intention for the work. Then, she lets go of the outcome, asking the materials to inform her of the next steps. She’s often surprised by what comes from the process.
