Biography

I was born in Taipei, Taiwan—my spiritual hometown—on quite a hot summer day in 1997. It was late enough in June that I was born a Cancer—which, if you know me well, explains a lot of my idiosyncrasies!

My time in Taipei didn’t last long. When I was five months old, I was brought to Shanghai, where both of my parents were perpetually busy business people trying to take a bite off the red hot 90s Chinese economy. Though very different from the way it seems now, Shanghai has always been an eclectic city, where every seemingly everlasting view could become unrecognizable in a matter of weeks. By the time I was five, my parents trusted me enough to let me embark on my mini voyages on the streets of Shanghai; I like to think that’s where my undying love for cities (as well as my well-known penchant for long, aimless walks) began.

But at the time, my real aspiration wasn’t crystal clear to me. The SARS epidemic swept across China, which upended my three months long blip in kindergarten & I skipped straight to elementary school. There I went on a pretty smooth sailing path, learned to speak both English and Mandarin like a native, and hopped between every aspirational profession you can think of that Asian parents liked: scientist, dentist, lawyer, real-estate tycoon… none of which, obviously, stuck.

Though I spent summers in the U.S. sporadically (and spoke English half the time in my school), I remained in China until I was 15, when I finally moved to Northern California, in many ways where my “real” hometown is supposed to be. Interestingly, it was the experience of living in the safe, comfortable, affluent, yet extremely drab suburb of Pleasanton, that I started to appreciate the disheveled way of life that I had in Shanghai. There were many ways in which I found Pleasanton charming (day trips to San Francisco! The spectacular weather! Shoutout to Amador Valley High & all the awesome people there!), yet by the time junior year rolls in, I had my eyes set on the greatest city on this planet–New York.

Luckily, some higher power must have heard me, because I was accepted into NYU—even as I got completely shut out of the UCs my parents had preferred. Moving to New York was transformative, and I spent the best four years of my life studying Urban Design and Architectural Studies. My coursework solidified my love for cities, and I was lucky to study under mentors like Mosette Broderick and Jean-Philippe Dedieu, who pushed me to think critically about urbanism. Field studies across France and the U.K. deepened my understanding of cities, while my role as Vice President of the Urban Design and Architectural Society gave me opportunities to connect with others just as passionate about the built environment.

Then came 2020. Like everyone, my plans were upended by the pandemic. Instead of launching straight into the workforce, I spent time reflecting, reading, and retooling—brushing up on GIS and programming, devouring books by Jane Jacobs, Richard Florida, and Thomas Dyja, and working simultaneously for two architecture-focused nonprofits, the British Architectural Library Trust and the Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation.

But it was my time at The Architect’s Newspaper—where I worked from April 2023 to August 2024—that gave me a more hands-on introduction to the architecture and development world. As part of the marketing division, I traveled across North America to organize trade shows and events, collaborating with architects, urban designers, and construction professionals from all walks of the discipline. The experience opened my eyes to the many layers that go into shaping the built environment—from design to financing to policy.

That exposure convinced me to double down on my interests and pursue my M.S. in Urban Planning at Columbia GSAPP, where I’m currently focused on the intersection of real estate development, affordable housing, and zoning innovations. My studies—and my studio work in Washington Heights in Spring 2025—are pushing me to tackle some of the most urgent questions cities face today, from housing scarcity to green gentrification.

At the same time, I’m continuing to explore ways to merge planning with financial feasibility. I’m diving into real estate finance and exploring how performance zoning can be a tool to align equity, sustainability, and economic growth. I also recently joined the Private Equity & Housing Scarcity seminar, where I’m looking at how institutional investment shapes housing markets—and what that means for affordability.

In many ways, I feel like I’m straddling the line between urban planning, development, and finance, and I’m still figuring out exactly where I’ll land. But one thing is clear: my mission is to make cities better—for everyone who lives, works, and plays in them. Whether it’s designing smarter zoning policies, improving transit access, or addressing the affordable housing crisis, I want to be part of the change.