She also found that she would be better able to pursue her artistic dreams in San Francisco where she still lives today. Gonzalez has become estranged from her parents who disowned her when she came out at age 20 as part of the LGBT community At that time she became very involved with the LGBTQIA+ community and the politics surrounding them. After leaving school with only a few art classes taken, Gonzalez explored creating her own art. At this time, Gonzales was interested in exploring the nature of "reality, consciousness and how these relate to creativity" and was very influenced by Jane Roberts' channeling of another consciousness that Roberts referred to as Seth. Harriet Rohmer, the original founder of Children’s Book Press (now an imprint of Lee&Low Books). Harriet asked if she would be interested in illustrating children's books which is ultimately what lead Gonzal to her passion for illustrating. Gonzalez said it felt as if she had “come home.” In 1996, Gonzalez suffered from a toxic dose of chemicals in a print-making accident. The accident caused her to be incapacitated for three years and very sick for ten more. During her illness, she traveled out of the United States for the first time, going to India and visiting the city of Varanasi, which she considered a sacred place. She also went to Brazil to work with Ayauasca, a "plant teacher." Ayauasca identified Gonzalez's illness as heavy metal poisoning in 2003 and eventually began to receive treatment in various forms. After her health returned, Gonzalez began to create more art, and also received a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to create a series, "Healing Through". The series what completes and shown in 2008/09, around the same time she wrote her first book, My Colors, My World. González has two children and is married to Reflection Press co-founder, Matthew. Reflection Press focuses on children's book that are considered "radical and revolutionary." She says that "the freaks and geeks need to tell their stories and kids need to hear them and relate to them," and that major, established publishing houses won't publish those kinds of books. Of her family, Gonzalez says that her domestic life is such that the "dominant culture" would have "absolutely no ideas what to do with somebody like me...I'm in line with my beliefs and completely out of line with the beliefs of the dominant culture." Gonzalez's art depicts non-stereotypical images of people, including overweight individuals and empowered women.