I am half Chinese, a quarter Irish and a quarter German and was born in San Francisco, California. When I was six, I moved to Taiwan where I lived with close to a dozen relatives on my mom's side. It was not long before Mandarin became my second language.
When I was sixteen, I graduated from high school in Taiwan, and entered the University of California at Santa Cruz. I wanted to be a doctor at the time so I majored in Biology and volunteered at the local hospital every spare moment I had. However, four years later with a degree and Medical School Admission Test scores, I decided that I was too young to enter medical school just yet.
Instead I found an opportunity to teach English in Japan for one year at an English language training center in the countryside outside Tokyo. When that year was up, I realized that medical school wasn't what I wanted and would rather immerse myself in the culture and learning of the Japanese language. In order to earn a living, I worked eight different jobs at once! I taught English and Chinese language classes, piano and aerobics, I worked as a hairdresser (I had beautician training in Taiwan while I was in High School), did some translating for the Secretary General of Japan (Shintaro Abe at the time), did light interpretation work, modeled and even worked as a Roulette and Black Jack dealer at special events all over Japan. Every three months I also worked on the largest cruise ship in Japan which sailed to Shanghai, called the Fuji Maru. On the cruises I would teach aerobics and stretch classes in the morning, conduct Chinese language classes in the afternoon and was a Roulette dealer in the evening.
In addition, during my stay in Japan I also took weekly classes in Japanese cooking, Japanese doll making, (Kimekomi ningyo), Ikebana (flower arranging) and kimono dressing. I won the regional (Kanto) competition in the first level of kimono dressing after three months of studying and went on to enter the National Japan Kimono Competition in Tokyo.
Almost four years after moving to Japan I was hired to escort and translate for a Japanese couple wanting to purchase property in Hawaii. It was my first trip to Hawaii and during that visit I knew Hawaii was where I wanted to live. I found a job and moved here two months later. The job was at a real estate and consulting firm and enabled me to utilize my three languages in an international business environment. Soon after I obtained my Hawaii Real Estate License.
Just a few years later in 1993 I became interested in television and was rewarded (after about 100 unsuccessful auditions) with a spot with Pat Morita on a First Hawaiian Bank commercial. That was followed by 60 shows as a co-host on KFVE's "Times Super Bingo" – a live one-hour game show. That led to commercials for Aloha Tower Marketplace (a shopping center), Lay-Z-Boy, Furnitureland, among countless others, and then to spokesperson work for Jackson Auto Group, Britesmile (a national chain of teeth whitening center) and E’ola (national nutritional company).
Meanwhile, I became the news anchor for Japan TV News and did a daily newscast in both English and Japanese that played in 28,000 hotel rooms every hour on the hour. In addition, I also did a show called "Do Sports" that played continuously on the in room channels in most of the hotels in Waikiki that featured me doing 35 different sport activities here on the islands from skydiving to scuba diving, and race car driving to game fishing.
For four years from 1997 to 2002, I also hosted 200 additional shows that were filmed in Hawaii and aired in Japan to over 2 million viewers that featured various aspects of the islands from interesting places to interesting people. The show was called "Marilyn in Hawaii."
After 7 years in television, the cycle naturally ended and I found myself moving into a new direction. In 2001, I was ordained as a minister by a non-denominational organization and became licensed by the state of Hawaii to officiate weddings. My reason for doing this originally was so that I could officiate Japanese weddings here in Hawaii as I had gained a level of recognizability in Japan, however it has turned out that the vast majority of the ceremonies that I perform are local weddings and west bound destination weddings. It gives me much joy to be a part of such a special turning point in people's lives and I absolutely love performing the ceremonies and seeing a couple commit themselves to each other.
For years, I'd also had a strong interest in Astrology and metaphysical studies so I began to study Astrology with a teacher. This was also part of my being ordained as a minister as in the days of old, the priests were the only ones “allowed” to study astrology so that they could give good advice to the people who came to them to consult about their lives. After about 3 months of lessons and intense study, I started giving astrology readings to friends and family. That soon grew into a business and through word of mouth and some local publicity I have seen over one thousand people for consultations in about 2 1⁄2 years. I continue to study with a teacher on the mainland every chance I get. (www.thefengshuilady.com)
Meanwhile, having grown up in Taiwan with the concept of feng shui in our lives, soon after getting a “hold” of astrology as best I could, I decided to incorporate feng shui into my business and have since studied with some of the most respected teachers in the field. I have done feng shui for hundreds of homes and businesses since I started, including a hotel in Osaka, Japan and businesses and homes on the mainland.
I have truly found passion and purpose in my life and I am dedicated to serving those who feel led to seek me out.
