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A diplomat's daughter who has lived in New Zealand, Taiwan, Washington, D.C. and mostly since in the Los Angeles area, I grew up in a home of modest circumstances, but my parents always provided me with unconditional love and support, art supplies and books and a love for nature, learning, reading and writing. When we moved to Taiwan, we lived in a three-generation Chinese home in which my paternal grandparents had a significant influence on my life with their lives of public service. It was during this time that I also developed an appreciation for Chinese history and culture, even though because of my NZ upbringing and non-existent Chinese language skills, I was enrolled in the Taipei American School. It was when I misbehaved and sent to detention study hall that a pivotal moment occurred in my life. Each student was required to write a composition and when I submitted mine at the end of the period, the teacher read and actually graded it, giving me an A++. "Never stop writing," she told me, and I never did, writing poems, plays and short stories, often illustrating them myself. We moved again to the NY-NJ area and then down to DC when Dad was reassigned . Later as an architecture student at Virginia Tech who couldn't handle the math (all liberal arts majors were required to take engineering math at that time because VPI did not yet have a College of Arts and Sciences), I changed my major to English with a history minor. I found my niche on the yearbook staff, as the copy during my freshman year, and editor-in-chief during my two remaining years at Tech. Married and having moved to California to complete my BA at the University of So. California, I discovered Chinese American history as a part of my graduation requirements and became a passionate community volunteer and charter member of the Chinese Historical Society of So. California. My first book was Sane Motherhood: A Practical Guide to Motherhood which was little more than a 32-page pamphlet. My second was Night of the Red Moon, a historical fiction for children based on the 1871 Los Angeles Chinatown riot and massacre. It was nominated for the John and Patricia Beatty Award and postively reviewed in the LA Times. My third title was Target: The US Asian Market a Practical Guide to Doing Business which rejected by six major, mainstream publishers. I independently published it and it won a business book award. To date I have authored 27 business, inspirational, children's, feng shui and self-development titles, some best-selling and award-winning. My entrepreneurship as an author and publisher, (Pacific Heritage Books, founded in 1993 to launch Target) public relations and marketing success on OPRAH, Regis, TIME, People, Redbook and 600+ other print, broadcast and internet media were all self taught. I have not taken any art, writing, accounting or business courses, only studied, read and experimented on my own. I continue to keep a personal journal, write articles for my Rotary district and for examiner.com and am beginning to think about the book that educators and librarians have urged me to write for over fifteen years but the popularity of feng shui precluded it. Beyond Paper, Compass and Gunpowder: China's Gifts to the World will be my next children's book. I invite all readers to contact me regarding any of my titles or let me know if I can be of help to them in any way related to the publications or subject matter.
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