Nancy was born in Shanghai, China, and raised in Hong Kong. While growing up she lived in a household including her parents, four brothers, one sister and a grandmother. Grandmother observed all the old Chinese and family traditions. One of the activities performed often by her grandmother was the ceremony of paying respect to the family's ancestors. Her grandmother would ask the grandchildren to sit down to fold joss paper into a special shape for use in this ceremony. Nancy would sit down and fold hundreds of pieces. Little did she know that at that time that paper folding skill was making such an impression on her mind that whenever she had her hands free she would pick up a piece of paper and start folding. Nancy did not receive any classroom instruction in paper folding, but she learned how to fold paper into the shapes of animals and other objects from adults and other children that she played with.
After high school, Nancy came to the United States for college, and majored in mathematics. Not until her junior year did she discover the joy of art by taking a drawing class. She finished her bachelor's degree in mathematics, but continued her study in art, eventually obtaining a master of fine arts degree with an emphasis in jewelry design and metal working. She then drifted away from art raised a family, and made a living by selling real estate. Several years ago, after her younger sister, Katherine, suffered a severe stroke, Nancy reevaluated her priorities in life and decided to go back to art. Remembering her childhood fascination with the objects that could be formed from a simple sheet of paper, she decided to explore into paper folding as an art form. The results are what you see. The pieces she has made were her unique creations of blending every thing she learnt and things she comes into contact. How she sees and feels in different material disregard of their intrinsic values, she treats them with real respect.