I was born in Hong Kong and spent the first ten years of my life there before immigrating to the U. S. and landing in San Jose, where I’ve lived ever since, attending Dartmouth Middle School and Branham High School (Class of 1983!).

My original goal was to major in business and get rich.  All it took was my first college business math class at San Jose State University to change that plan.  I went on to get my B. A. in Music Performance (Voice) there, where I felt privileged to study with Ms. Jeanne Garson (whom I credit for saving my voice), Dr. Brent Heisinger (who taught me to teach the individual while making sure everyone attained the basic knowledge before moving on), and Dr. Charlene Archibeque, who gave me the gift of my life profession.

In my last year of college, I became an artist-in-residence at San Jose High Academy, working in their Electronic Music program as a teacher’s assistant.   From there, I took over their fledgling choral program, building it to two choirs in two years, and doing the music for their first musical in recent memory (“Bye Bye Birdie”).  I then left SJHA to teach at Abraham Lincoln High School, where I am in my twenty-first year in the Music Department.  I team-taught musical theatre for the first seventeen of those years, but for the last four years have exclusively taught the choirs (and now assist with the vocals for the MT productions).  During my time at Lincoln, I’ve completed my M. A. in Choral Conducting at SJSU, also under the direction of Dr. Archibeque.  My groups have traveled all over the United States on tour and my top jazz choir has performed three times for educator conventions. 

Along the way, I’ve maintained my lifelong passion for reading and travel.  I enjoy all things artistic, from visiting museums to creating pretty concert posters and programs.  My passion while traveling is taking pictures; the ones on this website are all mine.  Through necessity, I began arranging music for my jazz ensembles and medley revues for musical theatre, but what started as pure necessity has grown into a continuing passion for arranging and writing for ALL ensembles.  I’ve been blessed to have my arrangements performed by groups of all sizes and ages, most notably for combined district ensembles with hundreds of singers. Some say the gift is being able to complete the arrangement, but in reality, the gift is hearing the performance.

The adventures continue.  The MacBook on my lap (I’m a lifelong Apple fan) provides connections via Facebook and email to family, friends and former students worldwide, as well as feeding my guilty pleasure of Restaurant City, a Facebook game!  I am fascinated by my two cats, Patch and Gidget, both rescue animals with eclectic personalities.  I’d like to feel that I won’t ever stop learning and trying new stuff, and I’m humbled to call my students my best teachers.  And I can’t wait to see what the future holds.