Elise Chen - Young Author

Dear Reader,

As every mom wants her child to grow wings, in my book 'The Wings', I wanted to share my story of how I grew mine to inspire kids to become lighthouses to others. 

When I was four, I made a choice that would become my biggest life regret: I let other girls cut in front of me when my ballet teacher, Miss Dawn, handed out fairy wings during dance class. 

It meant Miss Dawn handed out the last pair of wings to the girl who had cut in front of me, which is a metaphor for what many of us do when we are too shy or afraid to run through doors that become opportunities. 

However, from this regret, I spent three years writing, illustrating, and laying out a book about this life lesson, and with the proceeds from my book sales, I ended up being able to provide $12,000 worth of free tutoring for Korean orphans, 95% of whom end up homeless and hungry after they age out of foster care at age 18 as they can’t afford the after-school tutoring that’s required to secure a full-time job. I also asked a fellow teen to translate it into Korean so the orphans could read their own copies! You can see it below:

English flipbook + Korean version

Here’s my 3 minute video my teacher Clarissa shot of me in her garden explaining my quest to help orphans through my book:

https://vimeo.com/1021150135

I also taught myself how to make a website to share my project at https://www.wings.gift/ 

I want to share my story, book, and video with you so kids know that even if you’re shy and afraid, you can make something that matters to lift up others. 

To your success,

Elise Chen, age 17