Malene Teilgaard Laugesen was born in Denmark. At fourteen, she began studying life drawing at the Glyptoteket Art Museum in Copenhagen, before going on to study at the Danish School of Design. She started her professional career in animation and later became a freelance illustrator and art director. In 2008 Malene moved to New Zealand, with her then husband and her firstborn son. Her youngest son was born in 2009. After the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, she started to focus on producing her own work, and in 2019 she enrolled at the University of Canterbury Ilam School of Fine Arts. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in 2024.

As a freelancer Malene illustrated children’s books for sixteen years both in Denmark and for the American market. She has had books published in Denmark, New Zealand and the US, with publishers such as Houghton Mifflin, Egmont, Roaring Book Press, Upstart, and One Tree Press. Her illustrations for Melinda Szymanik’s “Moon & Sun”, were shortlisted for the New Zealand Book Award for Children and Young Adults in 2021.

She lives with her children in Ōtautahi, Christchurch. Her work has been exhibited in a number of galleries in New Zealand, and her paintings and prints sell both locally and abroad. She is currently represented by Art.Co Gallery in Christchurch.