Power of fiction

Helen Wan set out to write about her real-life experiences in the workforce, but found fictionalizing her story ultimately had a stronger impact. She chats to Amy He in New York.

When Helen Wan started writing a book more than a decade ago, she thought it would be a collection of short personal essays about her experiences in the work force as a woman and an Asian-American.

"I specifically remember trying to go into bookstores to find a book about how either a woman or a minority - or even better, a woman of color, an Asian-American woman - can navigate corporate culture authentically and successfully, but I could not find one," Wan says.