Helen I. Hwang is an award-winning journalist, author, and mechanical engineer. Her work has appeared in Eater, The New York Times, MSN, People Magazine, Tripadvisor, Huffington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia City Paper, and Next American City. In addition, she worked as a researcher for the Peabody Award-winning NPR radio program, Fresh Air with Terry Gross. For nearly eight years, she worked in the food industry as a mechanical engineer and trained as a “supertaster.” She also worked her way through college as a server in a Japanese fine-dining restaurant, a New Jersey Greek diner, and a catering company.

Helen holds a Master of Liberal Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. She was also a fellow at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and completed a graduate-level course in Contemporary Women’s Autobiography at the University of Iowa. She volunteers as an alumni ambassador for Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania.

Over the years, she has lived on three continents and traveled to 40 countries. She currently lives in San Diego, California, the 16th place she’s called home.