Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee is a Korean American

Korean American

Korean Americans are Americans of Korean descent, mostly from South Korea, with a small minority from North Korea...

 writer and artist. She works in many media including installation, photography, painting and drawing. She has exhibited worldwide, created public art projects and written for various magazines, newspapers and online publications.
Lee was born in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. She emigrated to the United States with her family in the late 1970s. She graduated from the art school at University of California, San Diego

University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...

.
Lee has written cookbooks, travel guides and numerous magazine and newspaper articles.