Our Story

Bride

Ana Liao

I grew up in Brooklyn, and am a proud New Yorker though I was born in Mexico. My birthplace always comes as a surprise to people, and sadly I don’t speak Spanish since I was only three when my family immigrated. Growing up, I had an active imagination and loved to read. After reading Around the World in 80 days as a child, I made it my dream to “travel the world and eat everything.” Naturally, I should have become a competitive eater but I am not as talented as Takeru Kobayashi (6 time Nathan Hot Dog Eating Contest winner). My most impressive record was the “Vermonster” (20 scoops of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, tons of toppings) but I had help.

I graduated from Stony Brook University in 2007 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Engineering, Applied Mathematics and Statistics. At this time, I decided to study in China for a year and this experience changed my life. It was a year full of fun, food and adventure; I made life-long friends and also met Guy. I returned to New York in 2008 and started working in clinical research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. I find my work very meaningful because I feel that I can help these people, even if only indirectly. One of my favorite quotes is “Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, help to make Earth happy.” ~Julia A. Fletcher Carney and I use it occasionally to remind myself to be a better person.

Finally, here are 3 random facts about me:

1. My hobbies are eating and sleeping, unless I’m travelling which then changes my hobbies to eating and taking photos. I also like to read, and will read the most random things such as home appliance manuals.
2. I’ve been plotting to dress my dog up as a pirate because he only has one eye (he was like that when we adopted him), but I have failed in all my attempts so far.
3. If I could be any animal, I would like to be a  giant panda because we share the same hobbies (please see fact #1).

Groom

Guy Chen

Born and raised in the city called Amsterdam, studied for quite a few years getting two degrees (Bachelor Electrical Engineering, Master of Science Economics & ICT). After all that I went off to Beijing for a year to learn Mandarin, meet new people and travel. That was the best year ever and the start of many friendships that span the world … it was the start of the TSF (Tsignhua Super Friends) or TSF Family! After an amazing year in Beijing it was time to get back to reality and I moved back to Dutchland (aka The Netherlands) and found a job as Service Management Consultant at TOPdesk. In 2011 I got the opportunity to work at the UK office for a year and had the pleasure of living and working in London. I moved back to Dutchland end of 2012 and am still working at TOPdesk and still loving my job.

As for personality, guess these words & quotes should give you an idea of who I am.

Music is a huge part of my life, Love to Dance, Geeky, Nerdy, Gadget nerd, Techie, Foodie, Camera geek, Weird, Loves to travel and explore, Carpe Diem, Live life to the fullest, Plan for the future but live in and for the moment, Every single journey starts with a single step, Always look on the bright side of life.

Our Story

Additional photo credits to Andrew Ho, Kevin Lee, Marco Tam