Tex Merquise is the stage name for Armita Pebdani. A structural engineer with a heart for art, Armita's backgrounds joined forces and have taken her through all aspects of fandom and pop culture from illustrating to cosplay, gaming and scale modeling where she has created a female-driven online community that encourages, supports and celebrates any and all creative women no matter the medium. She hosts Build Alongs: free make-and-take workshops for young children at conventions (currently virtually) who want to try their hands at creating something through scale modeling. Armita placed third in the New York City leg of the Gunpla Builder's World Cup in 2019 and has had her modeling work featured in FineScale Modeler and Newsweek.