Born in
Waterloo, Iowa, to a Chinese immigrant father from
Canton, China
who had come to the United States to start an
Chinese restaurant
, and a
Czech American mother, she grew up feeling different than her peers during the height of the
Cold War, often being mocked for her Asian half of her ethnicity. Initially earning a bachelor's degree in theatre, and later a master's degree in drama, she went on to attend
The Catholic University of America to attend law school. There she would meet her future husband, an army officer who was also attending to become a lawyer.
Commissioned into the Judge Advocate General Corps in 1974, she was assigned to
Eighth Army
in
Korea
then to
Fort Shafter, Hawaii, completing her
active duty
requirement, and transferring to the Army Reserves. After active duty, she settled down and began to reside in
Hawaii with her husband and became a civilian attorney for
U.S. Army Pacific. While a reservist she had been deployed to
Johnston Atoll,
Japan, the
Philippines,
Washington D.C., and
Iraq. She was a chair commissioner of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, with her term expiring while deployed.