Giovanna Pang-Garcia’s “Why Chinese Women Are Not Broke” won the Seventh Annual

Giovanna Pang-Garcia’s “Why Chinese Women Are Not Broke” won the Seventh Annual Asian Heritage Award for Art and Literature. The award was presented by the Asian Heritage Society on board the USS Midway on Saturday, July 10.

In the book Why Chinese Women Are Not Broke, Giovanna Pang Garcia tracked down 100 of the most successful and influential Chinese women in America, convincing them to share their secrets of success. Garcia’s book explains how their core values and commonsense practices can be utilized by anyone willing to invest in hard work and persistence. These women became successful not because they were lucky, but because they found the balance between the Chinese core values they were raised with and the freedom and opportunities that America provides. They persevered, were driven by an indefatigable work ethic, possessed an unstoppable desire for success and never quit pursuing their dreams. ”

I wanted to leave my reader with a real blueprint for success,” says Garcia, characterizing the book as Chicken Soup for the Soul meets The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Garcia emphasizes that the keys to success are applicable to all people. “While I interviewed Chinese women, because that is my heritage, these same values have been brought to America by immigrants from all over the world. For hundreds of years people have come to the United States with suitcases of hopes and dreams. They also brought a willingness to work hard, take risks, persevere in the face of setbacks and live with integrity” she said. As she collected her stories, Garcia discovered a common thread and in her book writes that, “despite adversity, limited opportunities, modest backgrounds and gender stereotyping, every single one of these women succeeded by combining their Chinese values with the freedom and abundance of opportunities here in America.”

Among the stories in her book are leaders in the corporate, political and legal fields, as well as ambassadors, congresswomen, U.S. attorneys, and a police chief.

Giovanna is a highly successful Chinese American woman. She emigrated from Hong Kong to the United States all alone at the age of sixteen without knowing how to speak a lick of English! With a lot of hard work and determination she not only survived, but thrived. She started her own computer company with only three hundred dollars and turned it into a multi-million dollar corporation by expanding the company into a multifaceted computer network and consulting corporation, which she then sold before she was forty to retire financially independent and start a family with her husband.