The locus of Kest’s work for nearly 3 decades as a working artist has been in the natural science and botanical world and in that time, she has made over 30 books, 20 calendars, innumerable images for magazines and other publications, including a 100-page fantasy graphic novel. Kest has additional experience in creating designs for licensed, manufactured products and packaging such as wallpaper, greeting cards, labels, posters, educational games, and more. Kest's work spans markets as well as genres, and her work is as fluid in the educational and technical sciences, as it is in historical fiction or sci-fi.

Kest has her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She earned her undergraduate degree from York College of Pennsylvania with an emphasis on botany and ecology, and was a professor of Illustration and Drawing courses there for nearly a decade.

Alongside her freelance career, Kest has nurtured a fascination for ceramics and is exploring the possibilities in the medium to express stories and bring fantasy characters to life in clay.

She also enjoys playing in a rock band, The Weathercocks, with her long time buddy and fellow artist, Mark Zug.