Shaina Lu 呂明穎 (she/her) is a queer Taiwanese-American artist interested in the intersection of art, education, and activism.
She creates community art for social change through dialogue and conversation with local youth, residents, and grassroots organizers. You can see her public art throughout Boston’s Chinatown, MA, where she works, and in Malden, MA, where she lives. In 2023, the Massachusetts AAPI Commission honored Shaina as an Unsung Hero for her work as an artist and organizer.
Shaina has worked in the education field since 2012, both as a public school teacher and as a program director in a community-based organization. As an educator, Shaina develops project-based learning experiences for young artists to draw knowledge and inspiration from their communities and to use art as a tool to effect social change.
Shaina also writes and illustrates for a more just and liberated world. She is the author and illustrator of NOODLE & BAO (2024, HarperCollins Quill Tree), a middle grade graphic novel about food, family, and fighting against gentrification. She also has two upcoming picture books with Penguin Kokila.
Shaina is a proud alumna of Wellesley College, and she holds a Masters in Arts in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
She is the author of the middle grade graphic novel NOODLE & BAO (Quill Tree/Harper, October 2024) and the forthcoming picture book GRACE’S GARDENS (Kokila/Penguin, 2026).
