Mariam Elias is an educator, designer, and writer. In the past five years, she worked in academia in various educational institutes locally and internationally. These include “Instituto Marangoni” and “Miami International University of Art and Design” in Miami, Florida. There she gave classes for graduate programs such as the Master in “Design & Media Management” and “Master of Fine Arts”. She has also lectured in various departments such as advertising, graphic design, and interior design. Last year, she worked as a lecturer in the graphic design department at Coventry University in Cairo, Egypt. She holds several graduate degrees including an M.S. in Global Strategic Communication from Florida International University in Miami, Florida, and an associate degree from Miami Ad School in Art Direction. She also traveled to Italy in 2011, to complete her first master's degree from the University of Turin in the “Management of Heritage and Cultural Projects”. Before her graduate studies, she finished her studies at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo earning a B.A in Décor Scenography and another bachelor’s in journalism and mass Communication with a specialization in “Integrated Marketing Communication” from The American University in Cairo. She directed a short film entitled “Drawing on A Nude Body” which was reviewed in Frieze art magazine and won the best directing award at Cairo’s National Film Festival. She published her first book “Thawret El Loool: Chats with Young Egyptian Artists” in 2011. She worked in several advertising agencies and won awards such as Clio’s, Graphis, and CA. She is currently a visiting professor teaching illustration at Florida International University.