Her illustration style is distinctive. “I don’t draw perfect things,” Becky says. “The people have bumpy kneecaps and spaghetti hair. You can’t take it too seriously, which can make difficult information accessible to more people.”

ON STARTING HER OWN BUSINESS

Becky began freelancing full-time a little over two years ago. The first year was a struggle, though few people knew it. “I projected confidence, even though I was spending more than I was making.” She put a lot of pressure on herself. “Failure was not an option,” she explains. “It would have meant that maybe this career choice wasn’t right for me, and that would have meant that maybe my whole identity wasn’t right.”

Then she changed her definition of success: “I was paying my bills and my taxes. And I was working on what I wanted to and I traveled so much. I wasn’t buying a new car, but I was living my dream. When I realized that was success, I came into my own.”