Courtesy Jennifer 8 Lee

Believe it or not, Jennifer 8. Lee did not grow up dreaming of becoming a journalist.  Instead, she aspired to be what few little girls dream of—an investment banker. As a 13-year-old, before Wall Street’s heyday, she stumbled upon a children’s guide to investment banking. The book painted a wonderful picture of how investment bankers help build a better world. The idea may seem humorous given today’s economic climate, but for the self-proclaimed science and math geek, Lee believed the profession “seemed like a good and honorable thing to do, being able to build the infrastructure of the country.”

At Harvard, she continued to follow her passion for numbers by majoring in applied math and economics, but ultimately decided against an investment banking career. “Everyone in college wanted to do investment banking, but I was never someone who wanted to do what others wanted,” she recalled. Her need to avoid following the herd is clear—after all, how many people do you know with a number for a middle name?

Journalism, though, was not something Lee stumbled into. During high school, she was editor-in-chief of her school newspaper, had entered many writing contests and was a writer for The Harvard Crimson. She remembers being a “painfully mediocre writer” until spring of her junior year.

During the summer between her junior and senior year of high school, Lee decided she wanted to become a journalist after attending a Dow Jones program for minority youth. She wrote a story about how organizations used arts to help gay teenagers open up about their sexuality. After interviewing and being touched by the story of an African American gay teenager who had tried to commit suicide twice, she realized that through journalism, she was “able to listen to people’s stories and give them a voice.”

Now, Lee is a well-known, influential Asian American journalist, having worked for eight years with The New York Times, which she joined at the age of 24, and also as an author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, which examines how Chinese food in America is very much American. She explained that The Fortune Cookie Chronicles is “an allegory of self. You look at this thing—it’s Chinese, but made in America.” While conducting research for the book, she reached out to the Chinese diaspora, finding it amusing to encounter ethnically Chinese individuals like her who were not only American, but also Indian and African.

The success of the book led to an appearance on the Colbert Report as well as a TED talk, both of which Lee credits for legitimizing her in the eyes of Silicon Valley professionals. After accepting a buyout package from The New York Times, Lee is doing less writing and more of what she calls “structuring.”  She describes herself as an “operational and systems person” and is keen on building a system that departs from legacy media, such as newspapers, and moves toward new forms of media.

While “many people have been lamenting the death of print,” Lee believes that the industry is due for its next stage of evolution. Lee is excited to contribute to shaping the future of journalism, which she believes will revolve around “knowledge sharing, building relationships and furthering the osmosis between techies and writers.”  Through her involvement with Hacks/Hackers, Lee works with  journalists and techies to build a system in which writers can reach a broader audience through different forms of media and allow them to become more business-savvy and marketable. For Lee, this is particularly relevant in today’s environment where blogs and online journals highlight the prevalence of web-based self-expression.

For this reason, Lee is pushing for journalism’s next wave, which will allow people to connect more extensively through social and digital media. For example, she is working toward the proliferation of low-cost, open-source tools such as Wordpress, the transformation of Wiki software to being geographically specific and for primary source materials to be available to the public. If her work succeeds, we can look forward to a world where journalism is even more revolutionized. This will be when formerly private videos, photos, documents and programs become more available and individuals immerse themselves in the journalistic process.

As Lee looks forward to journalism’s future, she also reflects on her own successes.  Thinking about the advice she would give her teenage self, she said, “It will all work out.  Everything happens for a reason, even if you do not know what the reason is at the moment.” Clearly, she has taken this advice to heart. From dreams of investment banking to esteemed journalist and author, Lee has transformed herself and will continue to do so by strengthening the relationship between tech-savvy and content-minded individuals and welcoming the changing media landscape.

Related posts:

1. Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen: The Amazians Behind Disgrasian One night several years ago, Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen...
2. Teen Vogue’s Eva Chen: A Big Sister to All On an early summer morning in Manhattan, Eva Chen walks...
3. Jerry Yang: The Ultimate Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Chinese American Jerry Yang, who emigrated to the U.S. at...

Courtesy Eva Chen

On an early summer morning in Manhattan, Eva Chen walks into the W Hotel. Tall and slender, with barely noticeable makeup and a short, minimalist hairdo, she looks exactly how you would picture a Teen Vogue editor to be— effortlessly chic, with an astute attentiveness. Despite any ill-preconceived notions of intimidating editors due to my obsession with The Devil Wears Prada, I was immediately at ease with Eva and her endearing banter—especially after she started gulping down her order of breakfast and quickly apologized, “Sorry you have to watch me eat. I have to eat. I can’t not eat.”

In her candid and down-to-earth nature, the beauty and health director points out that the magazine industry isn’t all fun and play like the media often portrays. “99.9 percent of the time, you’re in the office at work,” said Chen. Work for her, however, includes being bombarded with at least 100 beauty products per day, attending fashion shows, backstage interviews and going to industry events.

For Chen, her job encompasses what she loves to do most—writing and helping others. As she unashamedly admitted, “I have a problem. People don’t even ask me for advice and I just give it.” Through the Teen Vogue brand and its magazine, website and blog—she was the first beauty editor at Condé Nast to start a blog—plus her personal Twitter, she’s been able to engage with teens in a whole new personal way. She’s the cool, smart sister you wish you always had around to ask for advice—and now only a Twitter @reply away.

“I’m open to giving [advice] probably because I remember being a teen and how hard it was to ask for help,” said Chen. “My whole life, I always wanted an older sister. I feel there’s a lot of value in having female friends, whether you’re a boy or girl, so I think that’s another reason why I love my job—because I grew up without having someone to turn to.”

As Chen opened up about her childhood, it became immediately apparent why many Asian girls reach out to her for advice and can identify with her easily. “I think Asian culture is very specific in that you’re told not to ask for help,” said Chen. “Even as Asian culture becomes more integrated into Western or American society, I still think, culturally, there are a few things that will probably hold true—the notion of ‘keeping face,’ the notion of ‘don’t go to others with your problems,’ like ‘figure it out yourself.’ I don’t know [if] that will change, so I think it’s really important for people to feel like they have someone to turn to. And I don’t mind being that person. Like I said, I can relate.”

From age 13 to 20, Eva spent every summer vacation taking summer school classes at Hunter College or Columbia University. Her parents, whom she described are “like many other Asian American parents [who] put a premium on my education,” wanted her to pursue business, law or medicine, and she enrolled in Johns Hopkins on a pre-med path with plans of becoming a doctor.

Anxious to take a break and do something different and fun, Chen applied for internships in the creative field between the summer of her junior and senior college years, landing a coveted full-time, paid internship at Harper’s Bazaar, which ultimately jump-started her magazine career. Chen recalled, “My first day of work [at Harper’s Bazaar] was kind of really an eye-opening experience. It was just that light-bulb-going-off-over-your-head moment. I just kind of realized that there was more out there. There were people who loved words and loved to write and loved to craft these stories and tell stories to people as their career.”

In retrospect, Chen admits there were clues all along, such as her love of reading and how English classes and the written word came really naturally to her as opposed to learning organic chemistry. “I think there are clues in everyone’s lives, whether or not they choose to tap into that,” said Chen. “So if you love movies and all you want to do is go to movies, you could probably make a career out of it. The world is so much bigger than doctor, banker, lawyer, accountant—all these ‘stable jobs.’ So generally, whatever your hobby is, there’s probably a way to make it into a career. That’s a lesson that I learned way, way later that I wish I’d known when I was 15.”

Besides the benefits of her internship experiences, Chen’s unexpected shift from medicine to magazines eventually ended up affecting her job today. “It’s funny because every experience I’ve had, from pre-med even, has translated into my writing and beauty career,” said Chen. “I’m also the health director at Teen Vogue, so my interest in science, nutrition, health and wellness has translated over into what I do now. It’s been really interesting to see how it all ties together. There’s no such thing as coincidences.”

Chen’s prowess in making the most of every opportunity, whether expected or not, and embracing changes in her life draws back to her roots and backbone—her Taiwanese parents who immigrated to the U.S. in the late ‘70s and her childhood in New York City’s Greenwich Village. Of her parents, Chen said, “I see how hard they’ve worked to be able to send my brother and me to good schools—to provide us with everything we’ve ever wanted. I’ve been incredibly blessed to have the best kind of parents that are out there.” Though an obvious answer, Eva immediately said her parents are the most influential people in her life. “My parents gave me the foundation upon which everything else is built. They gave me the education that instilled within me the confidence to do what I can do.”

In relation to her job as beauty and health director, Chen’s mom has perpetuated her love for skincare. “I feel like I grew up with a different perception of beauty because I saw my mom slather these creams on,” said Chen. “When we go out in the sun, she basically put so much sunscreen on that she would look like a ghost. She wears hats that are like umbrellas and would sit in the shade. I think the level of attention she paid to her skin definitely had an impact on me growing up.” And the same goes with her attention to wellness: “We didn’t grow up drinking much soda. We didn’t grow up eating much meat. We drank tea with everything and dessert was fruit.”

Though her cultural background has played a considerable role in her career as a magazine editor today, she doesn’t let her ethnicity strictly define her. Rather, Chen draws the most inspiration from the multi-ethnic, diverse city of New York where she grew up and currently resides. “It’s not one person or thing for me, but I derive such incredible energy from living in New York. I love living in New York. When people are like ‘You should move to…,’ I’m like ‘No. I’m staying in New York.’”

The New York City magazine editor lifestyle is one to be envied, but as Eva demonstrates, it’s a job for the passionate, giving individuals who love to express themselves through the written word and converse with their readers. Though there was more than could fit in this tiny space from our conversation, that Eva Chen has and will continue to impart in substantial dialogues with the teen audience and happily share her beauty and health advice—or any advice at all, whether you ask for it or not—is evident.

Related posts:

1. Actress Lynn Chen’s Advice on Getting Thicker (Dumpling) Skin The first time I heard of Lynn Chen was when...
2. Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen: The Amazians Behind Disgrasian One night several years ago, Jen Wang and Diana Nguyen...
3. Jennifer 8. Lee: Changing the Face of Journalism Believe it or not, Jennifer 8. Lee did not grow...

“We’d find ourselves always circling back to why it was so significant to have good Asian representatives instead of lame ones—there are so few public figures in the AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) universe, that it [unfortunately] places a burden on those in the public eye to represent us all,” said Nguyen.

Courtesy Hyphen Magazine

And that’s exactly how Disgrasian came to be: The two created a simple hit list of all the “Disgrasians” (disgraceful Asians) and “Amazians” (amazing Asians), or for lack of a better word, a “Boba” if you were on the fence.

The rest is history. Since then, Disgrasian has grown to average over 11,000 unique visitors every month. The blog eventually evolved into a prime source of AAPI pop culture, as well as a candid forum for discussing hard-hitting issues about race, politics and society.

“There’s never one simple point of view that shameful behavior is all around us in this world, and that you don’t have to bang anyone over the head with facts and figures in order for them to learn a thing or two. It’s not about telling anyone what to think—or readers necessarily agreeing with what we think. It’s far more effective to draw someone with a laugh and get them thinking for themselves,” said Nguyen.

Whether it’s about the longstanding tradition of public shaming in China or the embarrassing candid photos of the “Asian Jersey Shore” cast, Disgrasian offers readers, Asian or not, a unique way of sharing their opinions, gaining perspective and discovering something about themselves they never knew.

“If something in the news pisses me off, then it’s probably something I should write about,” Wang said.

The pair said they work independently from each other, and there are very rare occasions when they will write about the same topic. Every week, Wang and Nguyen feature an “Amazian of the Week” and a “Disgrasian of the Week,” which vary from politicians, athletes and celebrities to ordinary people doing amazing and not-so-amazing things.

But like many Asian Americans, Wang and Nguyen lead ordinary lives doing extraordinary things. Growing up, Wang and Nguyen had tough Asian parents and their upbringing has become something that defines them. Though their families don’t quite understand what blogging is, they are very supportive of their work—and that’s all that matters.

“They’re excited about what we’re doing and how the site is growing. Sometimes I think my mom and dad are the most faithful people in the world because they always get behind my creative endeavors even though they only semi-understand what I’m doing,” Nguyen said.

Wang’s parents read the blog every day and send them notes on how they enjoy reading their articles. Their parents have always had insights and opinions to share, which has helped their blog grow every day.

“Both my parents read the blog and love it,” Wang said. Ironically, her parents don’t realize that when they read about “Hardass Asian Parents,” they are reading about themselves.

“My mom doesn’t recognize herself at all in what we’re writing. She’s quick to point out how terrible and overbearing her Chinese friends are to their children, but when talking about herself, she’ll say something like, ‘Your dad and I were really chill. We never pushed you to do this and do that.’ And I’m always like, ‘Riiiiight.’”

Wang followed a path any “Hardass Asian Parent” would want for their children. She went to an Ivy League, played not one but several musical instruments, got straight A’s, and did well on her SATs. But even though she eventually took an unconventional path by becoming a writer, she’s doing what she always wanted to do.

“For a moment in seventh grade, I wanted to be an astronaut, mostly to impress my ‘Hardass Asian Dad,’ who’s a physics professor and consulted for NASA. I kind of wish that I had followed that ambition a bit more because it would be really effin’ cool to go to space! But, other than that, I was always the kid who kept a journal and wrote short stories and made up little histories—like the time I created a genealogy for the Pac-Man ‘family’—so yeah, I guess I always wanted to be a writer.”

When asked how being Asian American defines them the most, Nguyen says it’s a need for approval that never dies, no matter how hard she tries to bury it. For Wang, it’s being a perfectionist because there’s no difference between being Asian and being a perfectionist. To her, being Asian is about always wanting to be the best.

With thousands among millions of devoted followers and fans, where will Disgrasian take us next? Wang and Nguyen said they will keep doing what they want to do until they don’t. And that’s the beauty of writing—it’s a long, miserable yet rewarding journey that you just have to trust will take you somewhere.

As Nguyen said, “This is actually really un-Asian: we don’t know.”

Wang said, “Who knows. But honestly, there is no Disgrasian crystal ball. My ‘Hardass Asian Dad’ always said I was a poor planner—and, you know what? He was right!”

Related posts:

1. Jennifer 8. Lee: Changing the Face of Journalism Believe it or not, Jennifer 8. Lee did not grow...
2. Teen Vogue’s Eva Chen: A Big Sister to All On an early summer morning in Manhattan, Eva Chen walks...
3. Jerry Yang: The Ultimate Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Chinese American Jerry Yang, who emigrated to the U.S. at...

Susanna Lau of the Style Bubble fashion blog is better known throughout the blogosphere as “Susie Bubble” — an alias that she garnered from her friend, Sarah Hill, back in elementary school. Incidentally, long before blogging existed, an entire class of children began to call her by her famous nickname because she always looked like she was in a world of her own. “I was in a bubble!” she affectionately recalled.

Nowadays, in spite of her nickname and blog name, Lau is one of the most artistically, culturally and sartorially involved individuals in the fashion media industry — a far cry from the “bubble” of her childhood years. She began blogging because she wanted to “channel random thoughts about fashion” into a space of her own, after “geeking out” on fashion forums such as The Fashion Spot. Lau discovered that bloggers have the ability to cover obscure information with speed and variety that most print publications have not yet achieved. For buyers, public relations agents and trendspotters, bloggers are gems of resources — and Lau is a rare blue diamond. “Blogging three times a day for three years is weirdly enough the most consistent thing I’ve ever done,” she said.

Her passion and keen eye for design led her to become the commissioning editor for Dazed Digital, the groundbreaking online counterpart to the British style magazine, Dazed & Confused. Lau admits that “it’s been tricky to juggle the blog and [her] full time job at Dazed, but it has been really amazing overseeing the development of Dazed Digital.” Because she has never worked with print before, she was recruited to be a member of the staff in order to offer a different perspective and to approach the online relaunch “in a completely different way to print.”

One of the differences between working in print and working in digital is the level of work pace. Lau is able to — and must — work at a faster pace than her print counterparts. Additionally, she must respond to reader feedback in the form of comments and website traffic. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), for print media, instantaneous feedback can be largely ignored. “The pace can wear you down. Also, looking after a website is a 24-hour job. If something breaks, you have to fix it right away,” she admitted.

Lau discovered that some benefits to working in digital include fewer restrictions (for example, no need to make sure all images are in high-resolution) and a bigger scope of topics to cover. However, in spite of digital’s ability to cover vast amounts of information, Lau believes that print media will still remain as a substantial and profitable industry in the future because “the two media are consumed in different ways.” The digitally inclined blogger is not worried about print in this increasingly environmentally conscious world, because “what print excels at is not replicable online, the tactile feeling of flicking through a magazine and reading the lengthy interviews with fantastic people and seeing the fashion editorials.” According to Lau, contrary to popular belief, the core of the fashion industry has not changed much as a result of the digital boom. Instead, the rise of digital has changed the average consumer’s perception of fashion and how the information is dispersed to the general public.

The combination of her love of fashion and her dive into the digital world as an editor and blogger culminated in an unforgettable moment when she was late to the Lanvin Autumn/Winter 2009 show, and tripped on the way in.

“With blood tripping down my knees and tights, I crouched in the front row just as the show started. The models strode out on the wet concrete floor and for about 10 minutes, I forgot I was bleeding and in a bit of pain because it was that beautiful. It’s pretty cheesy to talk about fashion like that, but that’s how it was!” she said. Now, this is why Lau is the it-blogger of the fashion blogosphere.

Related posts:

1. Mochi Weighs in on the “Death of Print” With magazines losing ad sales and folding, talk of...
2. Check Out Our Newest Issue: Mochi Goes Green For this summer’s issue, we’ve gone with an eco-friendly theme....
3. Summer Fashion DIY: Scarf top, Skirt and Headband Stay fashionable and green this summer by creating new clothes...

Related posts:

1. Fashion Blogger Susie Bubble on the Digital World of Fashion Fashion blogger Susanna "Susie Bubble" Lau is one of the...
2. Check Out Our Newest Issue: Mochi Goes Green For this summer’s issue, we’ve gone with an eco-friendly theme....
3. Teen Vogue’s Eva Chen: A Big Sister to All On an early summer morning in Manhattan, Eva Chen walks...