Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, I lived there until I was 11. Then, I immigrated to Greenpoint, Brooklyn where I spent the second half of my childhood.
Transformation
Transformation has been the main theme of my personal life as well as my professional life. Growing up in Brooklyn, it was an amazing yet challenging experience. I needed to transform myself and adapt to a new culture, a new language, and a completely different way of life in order to survive. It taught me a lot in terms of hard work, perseverance, and tenacity.
Transformation for me professionally has always been adapting to the rapid technological advancements in the last 30 years. I feel fortunate to have lived through a world that was purely analog to one that is becoming mostly digital. I have great drive to transform my own design process and thinking to coincide with the great leaps in technology because I am fascinated by the infinite possibilities of digital technology and how to leverage it to create new experiences that never existed before.
“Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
My most memorable, TRANSFORMATIVE moments
Personal
- Becoming fluent in English after two very difficult years of not understanding written and verbal communications.
- Visiting a pizzeria in Brooklyn and tasting pizza for the first time (and thinking to myself, 'What the heck is this stuff?').
- Getting on a skateboard for the first time – and continuing to skate till this day.
- Fulfilling childhood dream of visiting Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
Professional
- Buying my first Macintosh computer and learning how to program digital interactions for the first time.
- Building a website from scratch (by reading a how-to book) at the start of the Internet boom.
- Leveraging artificial intelligence for a Nicorette mobile app to help people quit smoking.
- Overcoming fear of public speaking once and for all after many years of avoiding opportunities to speak.
just a little bit more about me
I've been an avid vintage toy and video game collector my whole life. In the last 10 years, I've collected incredible Japanese miniatures, which I enjoy photographing with my various action figures against 1:12 scale backdrops that I hand build.
you have scrolled this far down, you deserve a little more
I helped out in my father's restaurant in Greenpoint, Brooklyn since I was 11 years old, and my nickname back then was "Little Dumpling Chef." I was assigned the task of making dumplings every week, and I got so good at it that at the height of my powers, I was able to help make over 1,000 dumplings in about an hour. I've never forgotten the craft of making dumplings (both pan-fried and boiled versions), and I make them from scratch at home just about every other weekend during the cold winter months in NY.