Elena Stowell Author & Illustrator

Elena Stowell, a high school biology and AP biology teacher lives with her family in Kent, Washington. When Elena's daughter Carly died suddently in April of 2007 (a week from her fifteenth birthday), Elena was devastated as any mother would be. The rest of her life became about surviving the grief. With the support and encouragement of her family and friends, she took a first step off of the couch and back into life. Needing an outlet for the suffocating turmoil of emotions that losing a child causes, Elena found Foster Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. She learned that, like many martial arts, Jiu-Jitsu had a spiritual aspect and would provide the guidance she needed to work through her grief.