Awarded in 2014: Tara Jaiyeola is an artist, sister, twin, wife and at times a puppeteer.
Originally from Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, Tara earned a BFA in Illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and a MFA in Digital Art from DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington. She is currently working as an Imagineer for the Walt Disney Company.

She is very thankful for the following non-profit community arts organizations who shaped her to be a community-focused artist: Gage Academy of Art, Fremont Arts Council, the McMillen Foundation, and Spiral Q Puppet Theater.