By the time Rio Shepard was about 4 years old, she had already found her way into a creative world that many people don’t discover until much later in life. While her mom quilted, Rio would sit on her lap, watching closely and asking questions. Curious about the colors, the patterns and how everything came together, she wanted to learn to quilt herself.
Today Rio is 13, a student at Edison Preparatory Middle school and an accomplished quilter. She learned to sew from her mom, Briana Hefley-Shepard, and from Mary Perisho at her studio, Community Craft, where Rio began taking classes at age 6.
Rio is also a basketball player, swimmer and animal lover. In school, she enjoys geography—though math, especially fractions, isn’t exactly her favorite. Still, quilting has a way of sneaking math into her life anyway, even if she’d rather avoid it…