About Dr.Lee H.Ng

Lee Ng was almost given away at birth. Her parents already had two daughters and were hoping for a son. They kept her anyway. She has spent the rest of her life trying to prove they were right.

She grew up in Singapore believing that hard work was the only currency that counted. She struggled with English as a child, the same language that would eventually carry her across the world. At twenty, she left for America with a suitcase, a dream, and more curiosity than good sense. She earned her Ph.D. from MIT and spent the next three decades building a career that refused to stay in one lane. Engineering roles at Hewlett-Packard, Agilent, and Siemens gave way to becoming Chief Operating Officer of MetLife's Innovation Lab and Vice President of Enterprise Innovation at Travelers. She is still not entirely sure how that happened.

Along the way, she raised three children, lived across two continents, and spent a long time navigating the space between two cultures she could call home, yet not completely either.

She is not sure she ever fully resolved that tension. This memoir is her attempt to understand it.

She lives in the United States with her husband. After all the moving, that feels right.