Elana Hagler was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and immigrated to the United States at the age of five. She received her Bachelor of Arts in both Studio Art and Psychology from Brandeis University, Boston, and continued her studies for two years at the Master Class of the Jerusalem Studio School and in Umbria, Italy. She then received her Master of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Elana has won multiple prizes in painting and drawing and has exhibited her work across the United States and internationally. She has taught fine art at Cornell College, the Delaware College of Art and Design, and at Swarthmore College. She is an Assistant Professor of Art at Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, a staff writer for the popular art blog Painting Perceptions, and designs coins and medals for the United States Mint as part of their Artistic Infusion Program.