Teresa Wu

Bio:

Newly minted New Yorker by way of Silicon Valley. Daughter of a fobby mom. Fond of sale racks, Mediterranean islands, and nauseatingly overplayed pop music. Brunches aggressively.

• Title: Consumer Operations Associate at Google Docs, My Mom is a Fob blog founder & book author
• Age: 22
• Location: Chelsea
• Contact: @resawu, byteresawu.com

In your opinion, what are some of the differences between a NY East Coast FOB and a CA West Coast FOB?

Can I skip answering this one? I don't have enough east coast fob expertise to provide a knowledgeable answer. ^_^

Would your parents have preferred for you to be a doctor or lawyer instead of a Consumer Operations Associate at Google?  We're also curious, what exactly are your day-to-day tasks as a Consumer Operations Associate at Google Docs?

My parents would have been delighted for me to become a doctor or lawyer, but they figured out early on (when I announced I wanted to be a dolphin trainer) that I would not be easily convinced into the stereotypical career path of a duteous Asian child. They were oddly understanding about my pursuit of writing, blogging, and internet-related shenanigans. While I'm sure they'd hoped that I would put their tuition money toward a more profitable degree (I was a Communication major), I think they've come to terms with where I'm at. After all, having a kid who works at Google still reserves them bragging rights with overseas relatives -- and it gives them misguided hope that they'll soon be ushering an engineer into the family.

At Google, I work on Presentations, Drawings, and a soon-to-be launched product called Cloud Connect. My role includes product support, community-building, and user education development -- so on any given day, I might file bugs, monitor the forum, script a how-to video, update help content, or report user feedback to the engineering team.

How did you get approached to do a book deal for My Mom is a Fob?  Did you get to meet Margaret Cho?

Several literary agents contacted us shortly after we launched our blog. After doing some research to determine which agency was the best fit for us, we signed with Writers House. We put together a book proposal that our agent then pitched to a variety of publishers. Mid-2009, we signed a deal with Perigee, which is a division of Penguin. It's been a long ride, but our book is finally coming out on January 4.

We were really excited that Margaret agreed to write our foreword -- I haven’t met her yet, but hopefully we'll be seeing her at one of our launch events!

You must be the envy of many recent college grads because you have a steady job, you are a published blogger, and you live/party in NYC.  What are some difficulties you had to overcome in order to get to where you are today?

I think I faced the same hurdles as any other college grad: Establishing my career path, setting a work/life balance, and learning to navigate the real world. I miss the days when the only things I got in the mail were greeting cards and Anthropologie catalogues -- and I will be first to admit I still call my mother to help me make sense of my health insurance plan.

It’s a cheesy mantra, but I’m a huge believer in the saying "luck is when preparation meets opportunity." Sometimes it’s a little unreal that I’m where I’ve always wanted to be, but my life is something I’ve worked hard to carve out -- with the help of an incredible support system, of course. The biggest challenge now is figuring out where to take it from here.