Kristen Cella is a student at Northern Illinois University, now in her third year of the School of Art's Illustration program. She hails from Geneva, Illinois, where she spent seven years as a student of Rita Borkowski. During her high school years, she participated in the school orchestra, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra for three years, the Philharmonic Orchestra for two years, and one year in the Youth Symphony. During her senior year, she was concert master of her high school's Chamber Orchestra. She joined the KSO her freshman year of college.