Hi, I’m Ann — a writer, educator, and cross-cultural psychologist.

For more than a decade, I’ve been immersed in academic research, exploring how people think, feel, and relate to one another across cultures. But long before I became a researcher, I was drawn to words — quietly scribbling in notebooks, writing short essays and poems between classes and ordinary days.

Now, I’m slowly returning to that early voice.

I grew up in the quiet and lonely corners of a small town in southeast China. My childhood was wrapped in silence. I never heard my parents say they loved me — no matter how much I achieved. Even as the top student in school, there were no words of affirmation, only criticism. That absence planted a strong longing in my heart: to leave, to search, to find a space where I could belong, express, and set myself free.

At eighteen, I left home to attend college in Beijing, and from there, my journey continued. After brief stays in New Zealand, Paris, and Siberia, I came to the U.S. for graduate school. I've spent the past decade living in Boston and New York. My hometown, once the place of my origin, has since become unreachable — by both time and distance.

Through reflective essays, I now write about parenthood, memory, migration, and the invisible threads that connect us. My writing isn’t loud, but it’s honest. Even though each of our lives may be small, solitary, and quiet, writing connects our experience of life. Through these silent moments, our solitude is shared and soothed — and within each other’s silence, we come to witness our own existence. If you’ve read my work and found resonance, I’m truly grateful. Your support — whether through kind words, sharing, or a small token like “buying me a coffee” — means more than you know. It helps me stay grounded and keep writing, one page at a time.