Cuban/Puerto Rican tech aficionado Iris Amelia Febres offers digital solutions to the less tech-savvy. With more than half a decade of experience in digital publishing under her belt, Febres has become an indisputable expert and an authority on technical topics, including HTML, CSS, XML and accessibility. Also, she really, really loves eBooks and corgis.

Before Febres ventured into fundamental web design and content assessment, she was a young girl in Miami who dove headfirst into education to distract herself from her parents' divorce.

"When I was really young, education provided some structure in my life," Febres said to Latin Post. "I really liked school, I liked learning, and I liked interacting with my classmates and coursework, and what have you. However, when I was a kid, I didn't like playing video games. I remember really enjoying using the computer and the internet. I played general learning games, like 'Math Blaster' and god knows what else.... 'Rollercoaster Tycoon' and really geeky games. Also, I was really into Pokémon. But, I just really loved the internet, and I guess I was almost kind of an addict when I was really young. There was just something about being able to access so much information at once."

Following grade school, Febres attended a small parochial middle school, where she became valedictorian. She was then awarded a scholarship to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, which is a very affluent parochial high school in Miami -- a very different area from which she was raised.

When attending Lourdes Academy, Febres didn't take many technology courses. Instead, she focused her attention on getting through high school, reading and learning as much as she possibly could. That steadfastness would prove valuable, as she went on to study English at Florida International University, where recieved her bachelors and took her first tech course, a blogging class. It was her introductory course to HTML, and a launching pad for future endeavors.

After gaining a graduate degree from Emerson College, where she obtained a master's degree in writing and publishing with a focus on electronic publishing, she discovered design and the Adobe scene. That knowledge solidified her love for the creation, development and promotion of digital publishing.

"In graduate school, when I was trying to figure out what to do, something that wouldn't be teaching, I thought about publishing because of this very attractive idea I had," Febres explained. "I like books and I like the act of creating a product. I like seeing my hands design a product and seeing this tangible result afterward, which is essentially what publishing is. You get all of these ideas and you put it into a funnel, and people edit it and people design it. That kind of overall idea of 'let's create something' was really appealing to me, and luckily I got into Emerson, and it was there that I really got into e-books.

Before, I didn't read eBooks...when I saw the Kindle, I was like, 'Who the hell would use this? No one's going to buy this. This is terrible.' So don't let me do your stocks and bonds, because I was really wrong...the Kindle is one of best selling devices ever," Febres continued.

When Febres fell for eBooks, she fell hard. She was attracted to the fact that eBooks were powered by web technology and fascinated by the fact that eBooks were a marriage of literature and technology. Those were the things that drew her to eBooks and web design. Also, it was the techyside of information technology, which always floated with her, that beckoned her. Additionally, her fondness for coding spoke to her ability to analyze and appreciate language as an English major.

"As an English major, I'm given text, I read the text and I absorb it, analyze it, break it down...and figure out the nuances within the text. For coding, it's like a language.... so there's this medium in that analysis; a breakdown that I really enjoy. But, creating eBooks isn't fun; it's a very tedious process, yet there's something about it that I find soothing," said Febres. "There's the vocabulary, there's a schema, there's a structure there...and an order that kind of helps to keep everything in place. To be able to find order within content that may not necessarily have order is a fun challenge that I like in my work, which is what I do now at Aptara."

At Aptara, where she's the director of solutions architecture, she helps publishers figure out their digital solutions. They bring a number of digital project to her, asking "How do we make this eBook?" or "How do we make this app?" She informs them about the limits of technology and how she can help them. She also gauges how their content will fit into the current landscape. With this work, she's often able to connect with people who are in the trenches, just like her, and they are able to share secrets and feedback.

With all of her acquired knowhow, Febres has toyed with the idea of starting an eBook publishing company, but recognizes that it's a large task that includes finding authors who aren't afraid to embrace technology.

"eBooks can't be the afterthought for book, particularly workbooks, because some things are not applicable. I always try to emphasize that think you about your content for all mediums at the very beginning, so that you do less work at the end, and spend less money at the end. You don't use as many resources, and there are less burdensome costs," said Febres. "It's a cool idea, but it'd be a lot of work, and I don't know the first thing about starting a business. You're talking to the girl who thought the Kindle was going to be a bust. It's something that I've thought about here or there."

Febres believes a publishing company would allow her an opportunity to experiment and be more involved in the publishing landscape, outside of her role as a vendor who provides solutions. For her, to be on the other side of the coin, with the content development, would be interesting.

On the subject of Latino visibility in her profession, Febres recognizes that there is a diversity issue. She admitted that she could count on one hand the number of Hispanics she's worked with.

"[Latinos] are out there, but they're hard to uncover. Nonetheless, I'm excited about where the technology is going. I hope that professionals remember that there are communities out there, where networking is robust, and there's a support system. We have to come together as the work gets harder, as the work improves," said Febres.

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