Anne Smieszny Silva is from Cincinnati, Ohio, where she was a synchronized swimmer for eight years. She began learning Spanish in middle school. She earned Bachelor’s degrees with Honors from the Ohio State University (GO BUCKS!) in both Spanish and Linguistics, and holds a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Northern Kentucky University. Anne taught Spanish to grades 1-12 at Villa Madonna Academy in Villa Hills, Kentucky for several years, and was awarded a Fulbright International Teacher Exchange grant to teach English and Science at the Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario–Arrayanes in Bogotá, Colombia for a year. She later went on to become an editor at Santillana USA in sunny Miami, Florida. She is currently working on speaking better Portuguese, too. When not practicing capoeira, Anne enjoys cooking entirely too much exotic food and drinking large quantities of maracuyá (passion fruit) juice.