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Penny Vongdara Chen

Penny loves children and is passionate about children's education and has been writing and illustrating for over a decade, her children's books are self-written, self-illustrated, and independently published. She writes full-time and balances a full-time corporate career as Vice President of a Fortune 500 company with various family roles, including caring for an eccentric family cat, Jasper. As a stepmom to two children and an aunt to about 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren combined, she became inspired to write and form Jaspyboo Enterprise, a company to sell her children's books and merchandise, which promote basic learning and early exposure to languages, arts, and cultures. The loss of her parents and younger sister also fueled her to write about positivity, hope, and happiness. Like their personalities, her books and those co-authored with her husband, Dr. Jack Chen, and stepson, Alex Chen, are infused with quirky humor to entertain all ages. Penny is Laotian and married into a Taiwanese family. She is fluent in English, Laotian, and Thai, has studied French, and is learning Mandarin Chinese. She holds bachelor's, master's, and juris doctor/law degrees and enjoys being a life-long learner through continuing education. She lives in Georgia (U.S.) with her human and furry family.

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Turning adversity into a powerful force for good: Penny is first generation immigrant from Laos. Born in the post-Vietnam War concentration camp, she spent the first five years of her childhood there, and then two more years in refugee camps. As a teenager, she was crowned Miss Laos San Diego (California) in 1995. Along with this title, she was given a platform to represent the Laotian community through public service work. During this leadership experience, and combined with her strong faith in God, she developed a stronger personal obligation and commitment to helping others.

For the next 30 years, she devoted time and resources to providing economic relief to the elderly and children in underserved communities, uplifting youths struggling with low self-esteem and lack of access to opportunities, and securing professional help for children with learning disabilities and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). Over these decades, amidst her rigorous academic pursuits, demanding corporate career, and running a busy family business, she would dedicate part of her life to volunteer work.

She would also began researching and writing about her ancestral history in an effort to preserve her Laotian heritage and rich family legacy. Coming from a prominent family in Laos, she also felt obligated to document her father's political and military leadership legacy prior to and during the Vietnam War, and incorporating this research into the U.S. Library of Congress. With the loss of her parents and younger sister, she would also began writing her mother's memoir, and then later, children's books that illustrated the love for her stepchildren and cherished memories of her late sister and their times with the nieces and nephews.

In addition to writing, her artistic interest includes performing arts; she is a professional Lao traditional dancer (specialty in classical royal court dances) and enjoys teaching and competitive ballroom dancing in 6- and 8-Count Swing. She also enjoys digital art illustrations. But her true passion is writing and turning dark moments into light and humor through her books.

“For you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)..."

-Ephesians 5:8

Dr. Jack Chen

As a boy, Jack moved with his family from Taiwan to the U.S. when he was seven. He still recalls the challenges of learning English as a completely new language and wants to make language fun for children. Jack has remained fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is moderately fluent in French. It is little wonder that he enjoys writing children’s books; growing up as an only child, he would create stories involving imaginary friends.  As a cardiologist, Jack really takes his hobby of writing for children to “heart!”

Professionally, Dr. Jack P. Chen has over twenty years of practical experience, specializing in cardiac catheterization and interventional cardiology as well as nuclear cardiology. He is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in interventional cardiac surgery performed "transradial" (the artery located in the wrist), being the first to perform this procedure in Atlanta and teaching other physicians this new technique. He has been invited to speak at many domestic and international conferences, and he also serves as the project director of the Atlanta "Transradial Artery" Summit. Dr. Chen also holds a patent for the design of an adjustable interventional guide catheter. He graduated with Distinction from Cornell University and continued on with medical school at the Weill-Cornell University Medical College. He completed his Internship and Residency in Internal Medicine, as well as Fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center (now the New York-Presbyterian Medical Center)/Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. 

Alex Chen

Alex has studied Mandarin Chinese from kindergarten through high school. He has always enjoyed teaching; he is an assistant instructor at his martial arts studio and tutors younger children at the studio. His pastimes include video game design and development, 3D art printing, digital art illustrations, and finding the next scary roller coaster. Whatever his ultimate career goals, Alex hopes to keep teaching and entertaining children.