Draft:Aaliya Jaleel

Aaliya Jaleel (born 1998 or 1999) is an American illustrator.

Early life and education
Jaleel was born in Sri Lanka, and immigrated to the United States with her parents at age 2. The family first lived in Boston, before moving to Richardson, Texas, in 2013. Her family encouraged Jaleel to pursue art, with her grandmother teaching her crafts and painting at a young age. She began taking adult painting classes in fourth grade. In seventh grade, after she was given a drawing tablet by her parents, Jaleel decided she wanted to pursue a career in the arts, and began drawing seriously. She began posting her art to Tumblr and DeviantArt when she was 12.

Jaleel attended Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland, Texas, where she illustrated a self-published book in her sophomore year. She entered the University of Texas at Dallas as an animation major in 2017.

Career
Jaleel's first worked with a professional publisher in 2018, when illustrating Hena Khan's Under My Hijab. She was approached in late summer 2017 to illustrate the book after the publisher's editorial director found her art on Tumblr. Her second project was illustrating Muslim Girls Rise, an anthology of biographies published by Salaam Reads.

As of 2021, Jaleel works as a character designer on the Disney Junior series Mira, Royal Detective.

Personal life
Jaleel is Muslim and a hijabi.

Picture books

 * Maryam’s Magic: The Story of Mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (2021), written by Megan Reid
 * Hannah and the Ramadan Gift (2021), written by Qasim Rashid
 * Anisa's International Day (2022), written by Reem Faruqi
 * Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All (2023), written by Dana Liu and Alex and Maia Shibutani
 * Anisa's International Day (2022), written by Reem Faruqi
 * Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All (2023), written by Dana Liu and Alex and Maia Shibutani
 * Amazing: Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders Who Inspire Us All (2023), written by Dana Liu and Alex and Maia Shibutani

Chapter books

 * The Party Diaries: Awesome Orange Birthday (2023), written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths
 * The Party Diaries: Starry Henna Night (2023), written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths
 * The Party Diaries: Top Secret Anniversary (2023), written by Mitali Banerjee Ruths