Navied Mahdavian has been a contributing cartoonist at The New Yorker since 2018. His cartoons have also appeared in the books The Rejection Collection and Send Help! This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America is his debut graphic memoir. Before becoming a cartoonist, he taught the fifth grade, where he learned most of his jokes. Mahdavian was born in Miami, FL and now lives in Salt Lake City, UT.