Our Team

James Chen (www.jameschen.vision) is a Hong Kong based philanthropist and co-founded Bring Me a Book Hong Kong with his wife Su in 2006 to promote family literacy and bring the joy of reading to the city. He is the Chairman of his family’s enterprise Wahum Group Holdings, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bath to recognise his philanthropic work. James is a key proponent of the concept of ‘Moonshot philanthropy’, the uncompromising belief that philanthropic ventures must carry risk and has used this form of philanthropy to focus on two key areas, early childhood literacy and the world’s largest unmet disability: poor vision.

Born in Malaysia, and a graduate of University of Sydney in Economics, Su worked in finance from 1991 – 1999.  Since May 2000, Su has been a Non-Executive Director of Allied Group Limited, a HK listed company with investments in properties and financial services. Su served on the Board of Directors in Po Leung Kuk in 1997-1998.

Yena Kim graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in History and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. Her dynamic teaching career identified strengths and areas for further growth for each learner. She taught English and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) in the classroom with a collective seven years of experience in the IB Diploma Programme and the local curricula at St. Paul’s Co-educational College. She is a certified and registered teacher with a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Hong Kong, specifically focusing on teaching English language at secondary school level. She motivates children to engage in reading and participate in discussions with the lens of positive education.

Outside the classroom, Yena empowered students to become independent and analytical thinkers by actively coaching the local and international debating community for nearly a decade.

As a mother of two children, Yena instils the love of reading and books in daily routines such as reading a small chapter at breakfast and having book chats at home.

Michelle received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College. She is a strategic advisor, board director and entrepreneur with extensive private sector and non-profit experience in investment banking, strategy, fashion and children’s literacy. Michelle specializes in launching mission-driven ventures, and co-founded an award-winning upcycled fashion brand as CEO. She is active in the community and serves on the Board of Managers of Hong Kong International School, on the Harvard Business School Non-Profit Scholarship Committee, as a Founding Member and Impact Chair for Asia Technology Entrepreneurship Conference (ATEC), and as the Chair of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong’s Book Selection Committee. Michelle firmly believes that reading aloud instills a passion for learning and a strong family bond. Her children, Elliot and Amber, love their reading time with Mom and Dad, and are avid readers.

Irene is a seasoned audit partner of KPMG China specializing in innovative and emerging growth businesses. She started her career with KPMG Toronto and has been working in HK for over 19 years. Irene has served clients in a wide range of sectors with a specific focus on healthcare, life sciences, technology, media and telecommunications and consumer markets, from pre-IPO, public offering to listed companies.

In addition to her role in audit, Irene also leads the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting and Advisory practice in Hong Kong which advises companies on ESG reporting, climate change and decarbonisation strategy and social and economic impact assessment.

As a mother of 2 children, Irene passionately believes that reading aloud instills a love of learning and close family bond.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in the UK, Amanda graduated with a MA degree from the University of Oxford and worked as a litigation lawyer for 10 years with Clifford Chance and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in London and Hong Kong.

Amanda now splits her time between managing her family business and her family circus, which features her three feisty daughters, Alexa, Amelia and Alison. Since becoming a mother, Amanda has been on a constant quest for interesting, relevant and fun books for her children, in both Chinese and English, and this is how she discovered the wealth of resources offered by BMAB.

Amanda is honoured to serve as a board member on BMAB and looks forward to bringing the joy of reading to all families in Hong Kong.

Yena Kim graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in History and a Master’s degree in Journalism from the University of Hong Kong. Her dynamic teaching career identified strengths and areas for further growth for each learner. She taught English and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) in the classroom with a collective seven years of experience in the IB Diploma Programme and the local curricula at St. Paul’s Co-educational College. She is a certified and registered teacher with a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from the University of Hong Kong, specifically focusing on teaching English language at secondary school level. She motivates children to engage in reading and participate in discussions with the lens of positive education.

Outside the classroom, Yena empowered students to become independent and analytical thinkers by actively coaching the local and international debating community for nearly a decade.

As a mother of two children, Yena instils the love of reading and books in daily routines such as reading a small chapter at breakfast and having book chats at home.

Michelle received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Wellesley College. She is a strategic advisor, board director and entrepreneur with extensive private sector and non-profit experience in investment banking, strategy, fashion and children’s literacy. Michelle specializes in launching mission-driven ventures, and co-founded an award-winning upcycled fashion brand as CEO. She is active in the community and serves on the Board of Managers of Hong Kong International School, on the Harvard Business School Non-Profit Scholarship Committee, as a Founding Member and Impact Chair for Asia Technology Entrepreneurship Conference (ATEC), and as the Chair of Bring Me a Book Hong Kong’s Book Selection Committee. Michelle firmly believes that reading aloud instills a passion for learning and a strong family bond. Her children, Elliot and Amber, love their reading time with Mom and Dad, and are avid readers.

Irene is a seasoned audit partner of KPMG China specializing in innovative and emerging growth businesses. She started her career with KPMG Toronto and has been working in HK for over 19 years. Irene has served clients in a wide range of sectors with a specific focus on healthcare, life sciences, technology, media and telecommunications and consumer markets, from pre-IPO, public offering to listed companies.

In addition to her role in audit, Irene also leads the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Reporting and Advisory practice in Hong Kong which advises companies on ESG reporting, climate change and decarbonisation strategy and social and economic impact assessment.

As a mother of 2 children, Irene passionately believes that reading aloud instills a love of learning and close family bond.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in the UK, Amanda graduated with a MA degree from the University of Oxford and worked as a litigation lawyer for 10 years with Clifford Chance and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP in London and Hong Kong.

Amanda now splits her time between managing her family business and her family circus, which features her three feisty daughters, Alexa, Amelia and Alison. Since becoming a mother, Amanda has been on a constant quest for interesting, relevant and fun books for her children, in both Chinese and English, and this is how she discovered the wealth of resources offered by BMAB.

Amanda is honoured to serve as a board member on BMAB and looks forward to bringing the joy of reading to all families in Hong Kong.

Angie Lin holds an M.Ed. in TESOL from University of British Columbia, Canada, an M.A. in Communications from Purdue University, U.S.A. and a B.A. in English from Nanjing University, China. She conducts regular reading workshops to parents, teachers, volunteers, and social workers in both local and international schools, community centers and organizations, and has consulting experience to improve reading culture on campus. She is also a popular interactive storyteller in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, often extending the story experiences with tailor made activities. Since 2018, Angie has translated and published children books as well as journal articles on children literature in mainland China and Hong Kong.

Connie Chow joined Bring Me A Book Hong Kong as a Project Manager in 2020, organized workshops for schools to promote parent-child reading and supported low-income families in reading during the epidemic. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Counselling and Psychology and has over ten years of experience working with children and youth, especially children with special needs. By sharing the same vision with Bring Me A Book Hong Kong and having passion in picture books, she works a lot to promote reading aloud. She rejoined Bring Me A Book Hong Kong in 2022, and is experienced in using picture books and art to facilitate children’s positive development.

Pauline Young is a communication specialist, trainer and storyteller educated in California, USA, with degrees in English Literature and Business Administration.  After working in Hong Kong for over 10 years in Communications and Training, she started her own training/speaking business and has given over 500 workshops and talks to date.  Pauline is an award-winning speaker given the highest honor and recognition, Distinguished Toastmaster (DTM), by Toastmasters International. In the last 10 years, she has taken on the role of an early literacy advocate and has led many reading and storytelling workshops for parents, educators and social workers as well conducted numerous reading clubs and storytelling “playshops” for kids of all ages. Her first children’s book, “Socks Heaven”, was published in 2004 (reprinted 2017).

Percie Wong holds a bachelor degree major in Psychology where she has extensive experience in conducting First TeachersTM Training to parents and Train-the-Trainer Workshop to teachers and social workers.  Due to her passion to contribute the work on child development that led her joining BMABHK from hotel business management sector.  She holds various trainings/reading clubs regularly for schools or NGOs to nurture family reading cultures.  Her expertise also includes English workshops through interactive read-aloud with the systematic approach to develop children’s understanding of vocabulary as well as the phonological awareness in boosting their oral English.

Yoyo is a Registered Social Worker (HK), a Registered Play Therapist (USA) and a columnist in Mameshare website, she holds a Master Degree in Counseling from the University of Hong Kong. With over ten years of experience in social work and counseling, she is experienced in organizing and conducting different projects in schools and communities to promote the importance of parent-child reading since she has joined Bring Me A Book in 2011. After the birth of her two daughters, she experienced the benefits of parent-child reading, and she would love to help parents to establish a reading habit through community training. She also promoted the therapeutic use of picture book in helping children to relieve their emotions and improving parent-child relationships through reading.