Born in the U.S. and raised in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador (South America), Angie Padilla grew up in a bicultural, bilingual family (English and Spanish). From her primary and secondary education at the German School in Quito, this naturally became her third language, with French added to the repertoire as part of her college major in Foreign Languages.  Portuguese would come later, picked up within the work context.

After an initial career in administration, she was able eventually to set up her own business, and for sixteen years pursued a successful career as a free-lance professional translator and conference interpreter. Her love of quilting, however, slowly started to take over more and more of her time, until she finally decided to take the plunge and in 2003 set up a new business and now works full-time as quiltmaker, designer, and teacher.