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The following is excerpted from the Deseret News. To read the full article, click here

Growing up in the slums of Hong Kong, Cecilia Yiu quickly learned the importance of education in order to progress in life. With sacrifices from her family, Yiu traveled to BYU-Hawaii at age 18, and completed a bachelor’s degree in two years. Education was her key, and she did not want to miss her opportunity.

She continued on, receiving her master’s of business administration from Brigham Young University, and landing a job with one of the Big Four accounting firms, PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Dallas.

Now, with two children and working as a stay-at-home mom, Yiu has found a way to share her passion for education and the importance of encouraging learning at an early age. On Feb. 21, Yiu launched a Kickstarter for Discover Wonders, a talking book series that strives to fuel curiosity and learning in children.

Choosing to stay home

Since leaving Hong Kong at 18, Yiu has made choices that were opposite of the culture she grew up in.

“In Hong Kong, the mentality is you don’t get married until you are 30 and you have one child or possibly two,” Yiu said. “You hire a housekeeper, and the housekeeper or the grandparents take care of the kids and you work.”

She met her husband, Nelson Yiu, at BYU-Hawaii and was married in 2007 at the age of 22.

To read the full article on the Deseret News, click here