Cynthia Di Filippo Elomaa grew up in the village of Ardsley, NY. A quiet place where the schools are small, academics are hard and sports are big. Struggling with the academic part, in gym class Cynthia realized she loved to swim. Yes, Ardsley Middle School has its own pool, and as part of the physical education curriculum, there was a swim class every year. One of the only students who could master the butterfly stroke Cynthia joined the swim team and later on joined the high school volleyball team.  

It was her middle school English teacher who told her she could be a writer. With renewed passion that she was actually good at something she enjoyed, she realized her dream to become an author. The road to college was hard, but she got there. In college, she studied English Literature with plans on working for a publishing company as an editor. Life as they say happens though. She met her husband in college, got married, and eventually moved to Rhode Island and started a family. 

Never forgetting her dream, Cynthia wrote whenever she could. It wasn’t until after getting married and raising her two boys as a stay-at-home mom, that the Nicky picture book series was bor