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WORK TITLE: Sophia of Silicon Valley
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://www.annayen.net/
CITY: San Francisco
STATE: CA
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2001039384
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2001039384
HEADING: Yen, Anna
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100 1_ |a Yen, Anna
670 __ |a 3 Plays by Asian Australians, 2000: |b t.p. (Anna Yen)
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PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Executive and author. Ellipsis, San Francisco, CA, managing director.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Anna Yen primarily works within the technological industry, lending her expertise as an executive. She has been involved with such companies as Pixar, Market Watch, and Tesla Motors, before moving on to work with Ellipsis as the company’s managing director. In addition to her executive work, Yen has also made her debut as a novelist.
Sophia of Silicon Valley serves as Yen’s introductory novel, and is semi-autobiographical in nature. The novel stars a woman by the name of Sophia Young. Since birth, Sophia has lived quite a privileged life. Her parents immigrated to the United States from Taiwan, and were able to create major financial success for themselves. At the start of the book, Sophia has just earned her college degree and is on track to start establishing her own sense of success. Ambitious and opinionated, Sophia knows exactly what she wants in life, as well as how she’ll get it. Luck seems to be on her side when she manages to land her very first job with a local bank. Sophia is able to enjoy years’ worth of fulfilling work there until disaster strikes, and a discussion gone awry causes her to suddenly be out of work.
It isn’t until a friend assists her in securing another job that Sophia begins to get her life back on track. She joins a paralegal firm, and from there is able to rise through the ranks, helping new companies gain traction and further success. Her ambition lands her a significant position as an investor relations manager. With this job comes the realization of brand new and bigger goals for Sophia; however, her personal life begins to unravel at the seams the more she focuses on work. The demands from her job rapidly grow too numerous for Sophia to devote any free time to any other facet of her life. Sophia soon finds herself dealing with major health concerns from working too hard, as well as a romantic relationship that has become too fragmented to fix. Sophia finds herself once again trying to reclaim her life and get back on her feet.
Her attempts to reestablish herself, however, come with yet another opportunity. One day she is contacted by a man named Andre Stark, who has a proposition for her. Andre wants Sophia to become an investor relations manager for his new company, which may change the automobile world for the better. Yet Sophia sits, for a moment, at a crossroads. While the idea of this new position is interesting, she will have to leave her old job behind to work with Andre. She decides to take on the job, however, only to just as quickly realize she may have taken on more than she bargained for. All throughout Sophia’s career journey, she has had to deal with working in an industry that seems to favor male employees first and foremost. With Andre, this sentiment seems to be more prevalent than ever before. It will be up to Sophia to decide how to approach this new stage of life, while also trying to manage the various elements of her personal life and relationships. A Kirkus Reviews contributor remarked: “While the plot takes the occasional off-kilter jag, this is a much-needed professional coming-of-age story.” Susannah Balch, a writer for RT Book Reviews, commented: “While it is not perfect in execution, Yen’s story is definitely unique and readers will enjoy Sophia’s story.” A reviewer on the Do Well Dress Well blog stated: “As a female reader, it’s a timely and inspiring novel that will give you an extra dose of motivation to speak up in your career so you can stand out and get the opportunities you deserve.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2018, review of Sophia of Silicon Valley.
Publishers Weekly, February 26, 2018, review of Sophia of Silicon Valley, p. 63.
ONLINE
Do Well Dress Well, http://dowelldresswell.com/ (April 5, 2018), review of Sophia of Silicon Valley.
RT Book Reviews, https://rtbookreviews.com/ (June 20, 2018), Susannah Balch, review of Sophia of Silicon Valley.
Sophia of Silicon Valley website, https://annayen.net (June 20, 2018), author profile.
Anna Yen has been an executive at a wide range of tech companies. She spearheaded Investor Relations for industry leaders such as Tesla Motors, Market Watch, and Pixar Animation Studios, and worked directly with some of Silicon Valley's greatest visionaries. Despite being told once that she was a "terrible writer," Anna penned her first novel, "Sophia of Silicon Valley", because she wanted her nephews and nieces to say something more interesting about her than, "She does Investor Relations." Her all-time favorite book is "Rules of Civility"; "The Help" comes in as a close second.
Anna Yen has worked at a wide range of tech companies. She spearheaded investor relations for industry leaders such as Tesla Motors, Market Watch, and Pixar Animations Studios, and reported directly to some of Silicon Valley's most respected leaders. She has co-founded several tech start-ups and is currently Managing Director at Ellipsis, an investor relations firm. She lives in San Francisco.
Sophia of Silicon Valley
Publishers Weekly.
265.9 (Feb. 26, 2018): p63.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Sophia of Silicon Valley
Anna Yen. Morrow, $26.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-06-267301-5
Yen's disappointing debut takes readers back to the early days of the tech industry's rise. The daughter of successful Taiwanese immigrants,
Sophia Young is hired as investor relations person at Treehouse, a groundbreaking computer-based animation studio founded by eccentric
visionary Scott Kraft. Sophia, who still lives at home, is so dedicated to her new job that it eventually costs her the love of her boyfriend, Daniel,
an environmental consultant. After a serious illness causes her to reassess her priorities, Sophia accepts a job from Andre Stark, an equally
eccentric visionary and inventor of a radical new type of automobile. But will Sophia ever be able to reconcile her personal and professional
lives? The author, whose background includes working at Pixar and Tesla, obviously knows the terrain but can't breathe life into the novel.
Unfortunately, this familiar story of a woman coming into her own while working for a demanding boss falls flat. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Sophia of Silicon Valley." Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 63. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530637405/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=57acd01d. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530637405
Yen, Anna: SOPHIA OF SILICON VALLEY
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 15, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Yen, Anna SOPHIA OF SILICON VALLEY Morrow/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $26.99 4, 10 ISBN: 978-0-06-267301-5
A new college grad figures out life, love, and the tech world in Yen's breezy debut.
The outspoken daughter of traditional Taiwanese parents in the Bay Area, Sophia Young returns home newly graduated from college with a very
clear life plan: a few years working at a shiny investment bank until she meets "The One," and then "the white picket fence, two kids (preferably
twins), and the Mrs. Homemaker lifestyle" that's been her dream since childhood. So when speaking out of turn gets her fired at the bank, she's
momentarily distraught--until her best friend helps her get a paralegal gig working on initial public offerings and Sophia is initiated into the
startup world, where her no-nonsense pluck makes her a star. Soon, Sophia is managing investor relations and doubling as the right-hand man for
a Steve Jobs-like tech founder, and her white picket fence visions give way to new dreams. But finding a partner who can support her ambitions
isn't necessarily easy, Sophia discovers, and amid her success, she's started neglecting her health. But the biggest test is yet to come: When Andre
Stark, a flashy tech founder, convinces her to come run investor relations for him--leaving her beloved old team behind--she finds herself
miserable in his Ivy League boys' club and is forced to make her biggest decision yet. A lone mismatched boyfriend aside, Sophia's world is
populated with benevolent and powerful mentors who consistently recognize her hard work (if nothing else, the novel offers a road map for good
management), doting parents, a ride-or-die best friend, and few personal flaws of substance, giving the novel a certain fairy-tale quality. While the
plot takes the occasional off-kilter jag, this is a much-needed professional coming-of-age story; one only wishes it were a slightly more insightful
one.
Like so many startups, glossy, fun, and ambitious if not particularly deep.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Yen, Anna: SOPHIA OF SILICON VALLEY." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2018. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A527248101/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ea62dae0. Accessed 4 June 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A527248101
Yen’s debut novel, Sophia of Silicon Valley, is an entertaining and humorous read set in the world of Silicon Valley startups, featuring a fun female protagonist. Fans of The Devil Wears Prada will love the similar vibe and working-girl-rises-to-the-top theme of the story. While the majority of the story focuses on the protagonist’s work-related encounters, the book does delve into her personal and romantic life, and the challenges she faces there, including a health scare. What readers will probably love most about the story is the protagonist’s relationship with her mentor, plus the inside scoop on Silicon Valley head honchos. While it is not perfect in execution, Yen’s story is definitely unique and readers will enjoy Sophia’s story.
As the new right-hand woman for an eccentric software company CEO, Sophia Young is trying to navigate her way around Silicon Valley. While trying to succeed in the male-dominated tech world, Sophia is also dealing with personal, home and health issues. All the while, Sophia is learning a lot about herself and what she wants for her future. Will she discover that she’s not cut out for the pressures that come with working in Silicon Valley? (WILLIAM MORROW, Apr., 368 pp., $26.99)
Do you ever wish you had a alter ego?
You know…A version of yourself who would do and say all the things that you don’t necessarily have the courage to do? Well, if I had one, I’d want them to be just like Sophia Young, the main character in Anna Yen’s upcoming novel, Sophia of Silicon Valley.
In this fun, fast-paced novel, you’re invited into Sophia’s life as she navigates her way, not only as a woman but as an Asian woman, through the boys’ club that is California’s Silicon Valley.
When Sophia is offered what looks to be the opportunity of a lifetime, she jumps in feet first but soon realizes that a career in the Valley is not all it’s cracked up to be. Yet as she deals with everything from an outrageously demanding schedule that threatens to compromise her health, relationship and everything in between to questionable comments from her white, male colleagues, you can’t help but silently cheer for Sophia. With her admirable outspoken nature and quick wit, she always confidently stands up for herself and you’ll more than likely find yourself wishing you could relive certain career moments just so you can use some of her clever retorts!
What I enjoyed most about Sophia’s character (aside from her quick wit, of course!), is that any reader could find some element of similarity with their own life – from being faced with unexpected career obstacles, dealing with loving but overbearing parents, juggling health issues and of course, the seemingly impossible challenge of balancing work and life.
Although the idea of Silicon Valley is often glorified, Sophia of Silicon Valley takes a refreshing approach as it pulls back the curtain to reveal what’s not often publicized: the problematic ‘bro culture’ that has become weaved into the fabric of the community. However, Sophia’s professional success reinforces that the future is most definitely female, not only in Silicon Valley but in all industries that have traditionally been male-dominated. After all, the novel was penned by industry insider, Anna Yen, who successfully made her way up the corporate ladder, eventually co-founding several tech start-ups of her own and currently working as a VP at Zoosk. As a female reader, it’s a timely and inspiring novel that will give you an extra dose of motivation to speak up in your career so you can stand out and get the opportunities you deserve.
That being said, Sophia of Silicon Valley is a must-read and I highly recommend it’s one you read sooner rather than later.
This novel will be released on April 17, 2018. Pre-order your copy today on Amazon.