About the Author
Meet Lisa Ramos, author of Why I Felt Different
About Lisa Ramos
Lisa Ramos is a California artist, entrepreneur and founder of MONOLISA, a handmade jewelry and handbag business she launched in 2017. After spending much of her life wondering why she experienced the world differently, Lisa was diagnosed later in life as autistic, with ADHD and dyslexia—answers that helped her understand decades of experiences that had never quite made sense.
An ovarian cancer survivor and lifelong problem-solver, Lisa has navigated learning differences, unexpected life experiences, serious health challenges and the unpredictable journey of building a creative business. Today, Lisa works from her Clayton, California studio creating new pieces for MONOLISA. She is active in the art community and exhibits her work at art shows throughout California. Why I Felt Different is her first book.
Creativity Came Later
Lisa didn't grow up believing she would become an artist. Creativity became an important part of her life much later, when she began experimenting with leather, metals, jewelry making and design. What started as curiosity grew into years of learning, experimenting and working with her hands. Eventually, that creative journey became MONOLISA, giving Lisa an unexpected career as an independent artist.
Artist
Lisa creates handcrafted jewelry and leather handbags from her California studio and has exhibited her work at more than 200 art shows and festivals.
Entrepreneur
She launched MONOLISA later in life and built the business through creativity, persistence, direct relationships with customers and years of learning by doing.
Neurodivergent
A late-in-life diagnosis of autism, ADHD and dyslexia helped Lisa understand the way she learns, creates, organizes, problem-solves and experiences the world around her.
Writer
After decades of journaling about her experiences, Lisa began connecting the pieces of her life into the story that eventually became Why I Felt Different.
Why Lisa Wrote the Book
For nearly thirty years, writing helped Lisa process difficult experiences, make sense of what she was feeling and look back at moments in her life from a different perspective. Those years of journaling eventually revealed connections she couldn't see while she was living them. Childhood experiences, learning struggles, relationships, cancer, creativity, health challenges and finally discovering she was autistic, with ADHD and dyslexia, began to form one larger story. Why I Felt Different grew from those experiences and from Lisa's desire to share them honestly, with humor, reflection and the perspective that sometimes understanding ourselves takes patience and time.
Why I Felt Different
Learn more about Lisa's memoir and the life experiences behind the story.