Benda is a writer, illustrator and visual artist with a practice in print, sculpture and public art.

She grew up at the end of a road, at the edge of the earth in the cartographically dismissible Upper Peninsula of Michigan. A born and raised Yooper, her formative years were largely spent collecting firewood and attempting to gain a suitable audience of none amongst a lot of maples and pines.

She now creates cartoons, writes and draws for humans.

Her work has been featured in Make MN Magazine, MN Original, Hyperallergic, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. She is the recipient of the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council Next Step Grant, Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant and the Jerome/MCBA Mentorship.