Like her main character, Gina Santiago, Janel is a Nuyorican who attended a Manhattan high school of the arts as an art major.
 

     Unlike Gina, she isn't very good at guitar and doesn't have a rock band to call her own.

     Truth be told, she never dreamed of becoming a guitarist. Instead, from the time she was a tween she dreamed of becoming a published author of a book series. And since you're reading this, you can see that her dream has come true!

     Her first hint of an idea for the Arts-Angels™ series began way back when she received a pendant of St. Michael the Archangel for her sixteenth birthday.

     She lives with her twin sister, Jennifer (who got a pendant of St. Joan of Arc that same birthday but hasn't written any books about it), in New York City.