Vera Koo: On Giving Back Through Writing

By Vera Koo, Women’s Outdoor News, February 7, 2018

I remember attending a political fundraiser about 13 years ago and noticing how few Asian-American women were seated in the room. Asian-Americans make up a strong percentage of the population in the California Bay Area, where I live, but you wouldn’t have known it from that event.

It made me wonder whether I was giving back enough.

I view life as having a big pot from which we all take from and contribute to throughout our lives.

Ideally, you contribute as much or more than you take. But was I doing this? Before I leave this world, I thought, I need to give something back to the pot.

But what could I offer as a service to restock the pot after all the wisdom I had taken from it?

That night is when the seed was planted that I could perhaps write a book that might serve as my way of offering some insight and perspective that I had gained throughout life.

I am not a writer, and I spent several years wondering whether I was foolish to think I should write a book, but people I respect kept telling me I had a story worth telling. I thought my story might help others know they are not alone if they are struggling.

Thirteen years later, I finally published my book, “Vera Koo, The Most Unlikely Champion.”

My book printed in time for me to attend the Miami Book Fair in November.

There, I had to come up with the words to describe my book to potential customers.

I summed up my book like this: This is a story about love, hope, betrayal and forgiveness.

We can all relate to those themes.

I remember one woman tearing up as I told her my story.

“I need this,” she said. “I need to buy this book.”

Although my story might bring tears to your eyes, you will find that you are not crying because of me or my story. You are crying because you recognize that place, because you have been there before.

That was the mission of my book. I wanted readers to know that no one is alone in their struggles.

I have experienced many blessings in my life as a wife, a mother, a businesswoman and an eight-time Bianchi Cup women’s division champion. However, I endured unthinkable hardships along the way.

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