A latin from Manhattan, Veronica was born in Spanish Harlem to Cuban immigrants. Her love of art started in 3rd grade when she won a class prize for her art assignment.

When she finished her degree in fine arts from the University of Miami, Veronica’s father asked her how she was going to make a living. That thought had not crossed her mind. Having always been interested in design, she applied to UCBerkeley as an out of state student in the school of architecture. Three years later she received a B.Arch.

Upon graduation she went to work for Walter Landor Associates in San Francisco. Her first job was to design the gas station template for Petrobras in Brazil. Taking advantage of her language and design skills, Veronica went on to work for many national and international companies and their branding projects, including—SEAT in Spain, Italcable in Italy, La Caixa in Barcelona and Banco Austral in Chile.

When she left Landor, Veronica started her own design firm, Napoles Design Group. In business for twenty-five years she and her team worked on branding, naming and packaging projects for: Autodesk, Apple, Broderbund, TRUSTe, Wells Fargo Bank, Chevron, Marin Municipal Water District, Nature Company, Clorox and many more.

While in business, she taught several design and art courses at UCBerkeley and Sonoma State. Additionally, she wrote Corporate Identity Design published by John Wiley, which has morphed into an ebook titled “Branding Basics: A Step by Step Guide To Create A Lasting Impression available at Amazon Kindle.

Veronica is one of the founders of Wake UP Sonoma and came out of retirement to ensure that democratic values are endorsed and upheld in Sonoma Valley. She calls herself an “accidental activist” and an arts activist because she uses her skills as an artist and a manager to influence community.

Community and art have always played a roll in her life and she has served as: •Chair of the Cultural and Fine Arts Commission for the City of Sonoma •Trustee for the Headlands Center for the Arts

•Board of Directors for Youth in Arts

She has been honored as a speaker at:

•Carmel SF Chronicle retreat on creativity •Voted KRON – Hispanic Leader of the Year
 •Sonoma Valley Democrats

•Wake UP Sonoma Town Hall

•142 Throckmorton interview with Joan Ryan

She’s had several solo art shows both in Marin and Sonoma, and most recently, her portrait of Amanda Gorman was shown at the Alice Neel Portrait Exhibit at the deYoung Museum (July 2022).