Stories

January 3, 2026

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Amy M. Le, CEO of Quill Hawk Publishing, has built her life around stories that matter. Not the polished kind that skip the hard parts, but the honest ones shaped by loss, survival, and growth. Her journey reflects how personal history can quietly become a source of strength.

Every stage of Amy’s life pushed her to adapt and redefine what success looked like. She learned early that resilience is not loud or dramatic, but steady and intentional. Over time, those lessons shaped the way she approaches both writing and leadership.

Today, Amy’s work centers on creating space for voices that are often overlooked. Through publishing and community-building, she helps others turn lived experience into stories that resonate far beyond the page.

 

Photo courtesy of Amy M. Le, CEO of Quill Hawk Publishing

Born in War, Saved by Courage

Amy M. Le was born during the final months of the Vietnam War, a period defined by intense fear and systemic instability. As an infant, she faced a life-threatening heart condition that put her future in jeopardy before it had truly begun. Because medical resources were scarce in a war zone, her survival was never a guarantee.

Driven by a mother’s fierce love, her family made the harrowing choice to flee Vietnam in search of safety and essential medical care. This escape carried enormous risks, yet it was fueled by an unwavering hope for a life free from conflict. That courageous decision ultimately changed the trajectory of Amy’s life, setting her on a path toward a new world.

Photo courtesy of Amy M. Le (far right), CEO of Quill Hawk Publishing

A New Life and a Turning Point

Their journey eventually led them to Seattle, where Amy underwent the life-saving heart surgery she so desperately needed. This successful procedure gave her much more than physical health; it provided a second chance and a profound sense of purpose. With this renewed vitality, she grew up determined to make the most of every opportunity her new home provided.

Following this recovery, Amy spent over twenty years navigating the high-pressure tech industry to build a stable and successful career. However, the trajectory of her life shifted once again when she faced the devastating loss of her mother. In the wake of this grief, she turned to writing as an essential lifeline to heal her heart and rebuild her sense of identity.

Photo courtesy of Amy M. Le, CEO of Quill Hawk Publishing

Turning Story into a Mission

That personal healing became The Snow Trilogy, a powerful book series telling the true story of her family’s escape from Vietnam and their new life in America. The books resonated deeply with readers who saw their own stories reflected in its pages. What began as personal healing became a collective connection.

Inspired by that impact, Amy founded Quill Hawk Publishing, a hybrid company built to empower authors without stripping away their creative freedom. In just three years, the company has grown to support 70 authors from Seattle to Sydney, proving that no matter where you begin, you can always rewrite your story and help others tell theirs too.

Discover more from Amy M. Le here:

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Learn more about Quill Hawk Publishing here:

📍Website

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Image Source: Business Insider / Linkedin

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These Two South Asian Millenials Are Breaking Cultural Barriers To Empower Women’s Financial Freedom and Literacy

“Our culture has countless strict gender roles, one of which is that men manage money and women don’t,” Aashka Piprottar, the founder of Boss Betis, told Wealthy Wolfe’s Parween Mander over email. “So while men get to discuss money openly and proudly, women, if they ever discuss it, do so in hushed, quick voices.”

Those gender roles convinced Aashka from a young age “that I was just destined to be ‘bad with money’ and I would just have to rely on my father — and then in the future, probably my husband — to manage the money for me,” she adds. 

Boss Betis is a community-based platform to destigmatize the conversation around money, specifically the unique challenges faced by desi women. The platform wants to instill that financial freedom and literacy are essential to women’s empowerment. 

While Wealthy Wolfe is a digital financial coaching & education platform for women of color from immigrant upbringings specifically.

Aashka also told Parween that she’s unlearned the harmful money narratives of her childhood through working in the wealth management and financial wellness space.

By 27, Parween had a $150,000 net worth, so she could support herself and her parents without feeling burdened. She advised that we must put on our financial oxygen masks first, as well as to start a  “Parent fund” account to save money for our families in case they need it, “This is a way to set a financial boundary so that you don’t feel resentful or sabotaged if they require funds from you.” Parween wrote on Business Insider.

Understanding the complexity of the South Asian culture, Parween has helped one of her clients to set up strategic savings accounts to separate her money, while still contributing funds when her client’s parents asked for it.

Parween affirms that cultural expectations and narratives play a huge role in their ability as South Asian women to make different decisions, especially when it comes to their money and building wealth. 

Image Source: Omakase Restaurant Group

Stories

Omakase Restaurant Group: How These Two Immigrants Went From Dishwasher And Busboy To Co-Founders

Kash Feng, co-founder and CEO of Omakase Restaurant Group, moved to the Bay Area at age 18. He was the only child of factory workers, so when he moved to the U.S. in 1999 with his buddies, he borrowed $20,000 from relatives and friends, promising to return them.

Feng started working as a dishwasher at a Chinese restaurant in the East Bay, and was quickly promoted to busboy. He progressed through various industrial occupations, frequently juggling three jobs at once, while also taking English classes.

In 2007, he met Jackson Yu, who eventually became his business partner and executive chef of Omakase sushi restaurant. Like Feng, Yu also had modest beginnings. At 16, he and his parents left China and moved to the Bay Area. 

Yu was a Japanese buffet busboy and gas boy on his days off. He was once asked to help out when the sushi chef cut his fingers one day. Yu then became so skilled that he could manually shape 2,000 identically sized sushi rice balls per day. Other sushi establishments took notice of this, including the well-known Ebisu in the Sunset, where he worked for five years to master sushi making.

They were both 26 when they decided to start their own restaurant business, Live Sushi, pooling all their savings and borrowing from relatives. Their restaurant was a hit from the beginning. Eventually, they were able to pay off all their loans, and the rest is history.

Now, Omakase Restaurant Group is an ever-growing empire, with different establishments all over San Francisco.

Image Source: Shark Tank

Stories

Software Engineer Turned Crocheting Hobby Into A Six-figure Business Takes $450k Deal on ‘Shark Tank’

Justine Tiu, a former Google Classroom software engineer, started crocheting to unwind after work. After realizing its appeal, she and her ex-Wall Street director husband, Adrian Zhang, launched The Woobles, a crochet kit company.

On Friday’s “Shark Tank,” the two explained the hobby’s vast appeal. The firm made $3.1 million last year and $5.3 million since launching two years ago.

All five Sharks quickly decided they wanted a piece of the company, and they showed they were willing to betray their business partners to get it.

The Woobles is a crafting kit company that offers patterns, step-by-step video tutorials, and all the materials needed to do amigurumi crochet, a Japanese fiber art form, even if you are a complete beginner. Once your kit arrives with all the materials, a login code gives you step-by-step written and video instructions to make your craft and helpful hints when you get stuck.

Tiu and Zhang ultimately received a $450,000 investment offer from sharks Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner. In exchange, the company, which at the time of filming was on pace to generate $7 million in yearly sales, gave Cuban and Grenier a split of 6% equity.

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Manhattan’s Chinatown Receives $20M Funding For 11 Post-pandemic Revitalization Projects

Manhattan’s Chinatown is one of the neighborhoods that has been impacted the most severely by the pandemic.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled eleven transformational projects that would be part of the initiative to help the Chinatown community reopen corridors, restaurants, businesses, and cultural institutions. 

The projects include:

  • Renovating Kimlau Square
  • Beautifying the Park Row connection to Chinatown
  • Upgrading a section of Sara D. Roosevelt Park
  • Installing murals and light projection art throughout Chinatown
  • Expanding light-up Chinatown street lanterns
  • Opening a community health & wellness center
  • Reopening the childcare and family support center at Smith Houses
  • Creating a Building Upgrades Fund
  • Creating a Chinatown welcome arch/gateway
  • Establishing Asian Culinary Arts of New York
  • Establishing the Chinatown Cultural Welcome Center

“These critical investments will transform the neighborhood and create a more vibrant and inviting destination for locals and visitors alike while enriching the neighborhood by improving foot traffic, economic and cultural activity.” Governor Hochul said in a statement.