We were lucky to catch up with Eugenia Chu Author recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Eugenia Chu, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

I hope my legacy will be that I helped bridge the gap between diverse cultural backgrounds by enabling more children to see themselves in books and to bring awareness of another culture to others.

I think it is so important for children to be able to see themselves in books to help bolster self-esteem by gaining a sense of affirmation about themselves and their culture. I remember when I was little, the only characters in my books were of Caucasian children, and I remember wishing I had blond hair and blue eyes so I looked like the kids I read about. My sisters and I were the only minorities in our elementary school as well, so that didn’t help. Fortunately, my mom was active at school and in the PTA and made sure everyone — students, teachers, school administrators and parents — knew us, so we weren’t teased or bullied at school. However, we still felt different because of the way we looked, and that hurt our confidence and self-respect. I believe it really would have helped if we had seen Asian characters in our books (or any media) so we wouldn’t have felt so alien. I’m hoping that by writing children’s books with Asian, specifically Chinese American, characters that my son and all other Chinese American children will see that they are just as important as, and not so different from, anyone else. I am also hoping that by seeing this regular happy character speaking both English and Chinese that it will encourage children to learn and speak another language, and not just because their parents are forcing them!

Furthermore, I also believe that it is crucial that ALL children are exposed to multicultural books, like mine, at a young age. I believe this will help diminish prejudicial thoughts about race and other differences. Children’s books with Asian American and other multicultural characters can be used to help open kinds’ minds and to stimulate an understanding of diversity. It is important to expose kids to those who might be different because people will often sympathize with those whom with they are familiar. These kinds of books teach children empathy towards those who look different and promote cross-cultural friendship while dispelling stereotypes. They show kids that even though some people may look different from them, people (especially children) are basically the same – everyone likes to play, laugh, love and eat yummy food! And nobody likes to be hurt or feel left out.

Moreover, multicultural children’s books let the reader see through the eyes of another. They increase cultural awareness and help children become more accepting of, and respectful towards, people with different backgrounds. I think that if more multicultural children’s books were introduced to the market and read at home and in schools, that the gap between people from diverse cultural backgrounds would be reduced and future generations would be more unified. I truly hope my books, and thus my legacy, will in some small way, contribute to that end goal.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am first generation Chinese American. Both of my parents are originally from China, but my father grew up in Hong Kong and my mother grew up in Taiwan. As for me, I was born and raised in the United States and moved around quite a bit, but have been living in Miami for the past 20+ years. I practiced law for 15 years until my son, Brandon, was born. Shortly after he was born I stopped practicing and became a stay-at-home mom. A few years later, I started writing.

When Brandon was little, I was always searching for children’s storybooks to read to him at bedtime which touched upon Chinese culture and which included some Chinese words and phrases to teach and/or reinforce his Chinese vocabulary, but couldn’t find any. Most of the books I found were either straight translations with Chinese on one side and English on the other, or were ABC/123 type instructional books with no storyline. Not what I was looking for. So, I started writing my own based on events in Brandon’s life and things he loved. At the time, I never considered publishing. I was just writing for fun for my son. Then I sent a few stories to my sisters who both have kids around Brandon’s age and they LOVED them! My nephews and niece kept asking their moms to read the stories to them over and over again! I was so surprised and thrilled! It was at that point one of my sisters suggested I try to publish. At first, I just scoffed and thought, “Please, who would want to read my little story about Brandon.” But years passed, and there still weren’t any books like this! That was when I thought, since I was always looking for books like this, and my sisters were also looking, maybe other parents would be interested and I could help fill a niche. So, I just went for it!

I now have 4 children’s books published: Brandon Makes Jiǎo Zi (餃子), a picture book; Brandon Goes to Beijing – Běijīng (北京), a chapter book; Brandon Goes to Hong Kong – Xiānggǎng (香港), a chapter book; and Celebrating Chinese New Year, a nonfiction book. I have more books coming, so stay tuned!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I was completely clueless about the book business when I first started (ok, I am still pretty clueless, but I know so much more now than I did back then!). I wrote my first story, Brandon Makes Jiao Zi – but had no idea what to do next. Back then I was not on social media (besides my personal Facebook which I only occasionally used to keep in touch with friends) and didn’t realize there were so many author support group which shared tips and advice on publishing and marketing books. The only thing I could think of was to submit my book to publishers. So that’s what I did. I submitted my story to 28 publishers with high hopes of becoming the next famous children’s book author, like JK Rowling! 😂

Guess how many offers I received to publish my beloved picture book written from my heart and soul. The answer . . . None. Zilch. Nada.

I was devastated and ready to give up. See? I was right. No one wanted to read my little story about my son and his bonding time with his grandma. Most of the publishers didn’t even bother to respond to my manuscript. But one kind editor actually wrote back telling me she loved the story but they didn’t think it was mainstream enough for them to publish because of the Chinese – meaning they didn’t think it would sell enough copies to make it worthwhile for them.

I sat on that info for a while and I even contemplated (for just a second) revising the story to take out the Chinese to make it more “marketable.” Then I remembered the whole reason why I started writing in the first place – to share stories which included some Chinese culture and language!

I believed in what I was doing. No one else was doing this and I’ve always felt it so important for all children to be able to see themselves in books (and all media). I wished there were books like this when I was growing up and wanted my son to see books like this, especially since we live in an area with very VERY few Asians.

I wasn’t expecting much success with this book, but I wanted to try because I knew how much it would have meant for me as a parent to find this book for my son. So, I decided to self-publish. I am so glad I did! Now I have 3 self-published books and 1 traditionally published book, with more on the way!

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

Social Media and it’s power! I wish I knew about this even before I finished writing my first book – maybe even before I started! Did you know that there are so many groups, especially on Facebook and Instagram, with people just like you; and that those people willingly and happily share info and help each other? I didn’t. Did you know advertising and promoting on social media could be the most effective and easiest way to get sales? I didn’t. Did you know like minded people in your industry form chat groups and become friends who help promote each other’s products and cheer each other on? I didn’t. Did you know you can find out about tons of free webinars and other resources through these groups? I didn’t.

As you can see, I didn’t know a lot. I am still learning everyday, but at least now I know where to look, who to ask, and have a support group of fellow authors who are now friends. Because of these amazing supportive people, I have become an award-winning and best-selling author! Woo hoo!

Contact Info:

• Website: eugeniachu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eugeniachuauthor/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eugeniachuauthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eugenia-chu-a5a15113/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chuauthor
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/betafish1000
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@authoreugeniachu