Natacha Merritt is a photographer, artist, biologist, technologist, and entrepreneur.

A decade before social media was a thing, she was called a cheap self-promoter, a ground-breaker, as well as the contemporary counterpart of Anaïs Nin. Merritt earned her marks with her debut work, Digital Diaries (2000), which was published by Taschen. It was the first digital photography book ever published, each chapter chronicling the evolution of commercial digital cameras at the time from under a thousand pixels per image to 2MB. Edited by Eric Kroll, the book cataloged Merritt's sexual explorations with unflinching pride and clarity.

She has been compared to Cindy Sherman and Claude Cahun in how she has redefined the boundaries of artistic photography. Hers has been described as "a distinct female voice that takes candid self-revelation to new heights of wonderful indecency.” In 2003 she was one of the creators of Zumanity for Cirque du Soleil. And in 2008 she conceived of a show, an insect circus that later became Ovo.

Merritt is truly an innovative artist unrestricted by conventional boundaries. In 2012, she published her second book, Sexual Selection, upon completing a degree in evolutionary biology. Inspired by speciation and evolutionary thinking, Sexual Selection has been called a work of art that "offers insight into universal sexuality and broadens the viewer’s sense of beauty and understanding of sexual behavior.”

After her second book, Merritt returned to her Cirque du Soleil roots. She became interested in the more intimate and burgeoning immersive theater world. In 2014 She became one of the original founders of the Sanctum club. Known for her wit, when asked by the Los Angeles Times what sort of talent she looked for in erotic performers, she said "My ideal performer was one woman who said 'I want to perform at Sanctum, become a politician and then get outed in a sex scandal so I can point out the hypocrisy,'" Merritt said. "I was like, 'You're hired.'”

Merritt understood that immersive theater was the early language of VR. During those early days of virtual reality, she developed a number of artistic VR experiences using custom cameras she had built to bring her visions to life. This solidified her status as a pioneer in frontier technologies. She was soon thereafter recruited to serve as a director of VR and AR investments and content at a Silicon Valley VC firm, while continuing to shoot.

Merritt is often asked to advise on the future of tech, prized for her proven predictions that via understanding our erotic desires we can also predict what technologies will be relevant in the future. She has spoken about this numerous items, including her recent talk in 2017.

Currently she is finishing her third book and other undisclosed art+tech installation projects.