Joanna was born in 1978. She is an only child of two Asian immigrants. Her dad was a farmer and her mom was a teacher. 

As a result of the model minority myth, Joanna's parents emphasized to Joanna from a young age to be a good student and to one day become a doctor. She nodded in agreement whenever they brought this up, but internally she wanted to become a famous actress when she got older.

Even though she did not see many people in films and television shows that looked like her, she hoped that she could change that by becoming an actress herself and inspire others who want to do the same. 

Due to pressures from her family and society, she worked hard to become a doctor. 

In pursuit of becoming a doctor, she still made time to watch and study television shows and films. One of her favorite films was The Joy Luck Club and her favorite character in that film was Jing-mei “June” Woo played by the actor Ming-Na Wen. 

Once she became a doctor, she was not happy because it was not her passion and it was very exhausting. 

She always thought to herself what her life would be like if she had the support and opportunities to pursue her passion of becoming an actress.