named Antonella who was raised in Italy by adoptive parents. Antonella told Straffi of her desire to meet her biological parents, which inspired Straffi to create a character with a similar backstory (Bloom from Winx Club). Bloom's personality was based on that of Straffi's wife, Joanne Lee. Straffi met Lee in 1997, during a trip to Lee's native Singapore, and they married several years later. Straffi and Lee have a daughter named Isotta. Career Straffi entered the professional comic book industry with a story in the 1985 issue of Tilt. He later collaborated on comic stories for the magazine Lanciostory and the Italian version of Skorpio. In 1989, Straffi was talent-scouted by Claudio Nizzi, creator of the Nick Raider comic book series. Nizzi brought him to work for the comic book's publishing house, Sergio Bonelli Editore. Straffi became the lead creative artist for Nick Raider, beginning with the October 1990 issue "Missione nel Bronx". His work was also occasionally featured in the Métal hurlant and Comic Art magazines. While he enjoyed illustration, Straffi's "dream job" was to turn his drawings into a cartoon, and he could not find an animation job in his home country. In 1992, Straffi left Sergio Bonelli Editore and moved to France for a storyboarding job at the Telcima animation studio. He was "bewildered" when he was offered the position, but in Straffi's words, it was "the turning point [he] was waiting for." Straffi worked on designs for the pilot episode of Valérian as well as a planned film adaptation of Roman de Renart. After becoming experienced with each stage of the animation production process, Straffi returned to Italy. With the financial assistance of Lamberto Pigini and Giuseppe Casali, Straffi founded Rainbow SpA in 1995 with 10,000 euros. The money was mainly used to purchase computers and software for digital design. Rainbow initially provided creative services for larger companies. Among the studio's first commissions were three minutes of animation in the film La freccia azzurra and the pilot for Les Armateurs' cartoon Belphégor. Rainbow eventually secured enough funds to produce its first original project, the Tommy and Oscar series of CD-ROMs and animations. In 2004, Straffi's creation Winx Club premiered on Italy's Rai 2. It became one of the network's highest-rated programs, with an average audience share of 17%. Straffi originally wrote the Winx Club plot to last no more than 78 episodes (three seasons). He