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When fashion columnist Zoe Zeng finds herself unexpectedly fleeing New York City to head up marketing for a fledgling Silicon Valley fashion app startup, she soon worries she’s in way over her head.
In some ways, the move makes sense. Her dream job at Chic Magazine turned toxic thanks to an editor who cares more about clickbait than quality journalism, and her paltry salary left a lot to be desired. On the other hand, she finds life in the Golden State is not all sunshine and boba breaks. In addition to scrambling to keep up in a whole new industry and pining for her BFFs, Zoe encounters rampant sexism and gossip, not to mention a seemingly complete lack of work-life balance.
Zoe is the protagonist of local author Kyla Zhao’s second novel, “Valley Verified,” published in January. And while the book is definitely a work of fiction, there are some parallels to Zhao’s own real-life experience of feeling like a fish out of water in the Bay Area tech world.
Zhao’s journey started in Singapore. Growing up, the writer often wondered what it would be like to experience life as a U.S. college student – “I watched a lot of American TV shows,” she recalled – and decided to try it and see. Used to Singapore’s warm climate (“I wouldn’t be able to survive on the East Coast,” she said with a laugh) California, she figured, “would be the best place to be.” She headed to Stanford University, where she weathered the pandemic lockdown era and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in communications in 2021.
By day, Zhao now works as a marketing analyst at a South Bay tech company, “looking at data, writing code; a very technical job,” she said. It’s not a career path she ever expected to take. “I kind of just fell into it,” she explained, when an internship (in a less tech-heavy department) and subsequent job offer led to an unexpected new position after a company reorganization.
“I suddenly realized I had to learn a completely different skill set,” she said. “I had a lot of imposter syndrome and a massive confidence crisis, and that kind of inspired the book.”
Imposter syndrome – feeling like a fraud due to self-doubt about one’s ability to belong and succeed in a role or situation – is something Zhao now knows is shared by many.
“I think it’s very universal. You can experience it at any level, any stage of career,” she said of the affliction. She was hesitant at first to share what she was going through with colleagues and friends. When she did, though, she learned that most everyone, from fellow newbies to seasoned experts, could relate.
“I used to think that (only) someone like me who is so inexperienced and just starting out would feel this way: ‘Everyone knows what they’re doing except for me.’ Once I became less afraid of opening up about how I felt, people were very good about opening up back to me,” she said. “It was reassuring to know I’m not alone in feeling this way. I wish I opened up about feeling inferior and feeling insecure to the people around me way earlier on.”
In “Valley Verified,” Zoe suffers some sartorial cultural shock when shifting from the fashion world to the land of jeans and (much-mocked) fleece vests. Like her main character, Zhao initially felt self-conscious about her clothes when she first started out in the tech industry.
“I was afraid it was working against me, that people weren’t taking me as seriously,” she said of her wardrobe. Ultimately, though, she realized that her style choices help boost her self-esteem.
“Not to sound corny, but when you put on a certain accessory or outfit it can really elevate your confidence,” she said. “It almost feels like you’re putting on a suit of armor. Creating a more confident alter ego, that’s kind of how I feel about fashion.”
Zhao’s been interested in fashion writing since middle school and has the editorial portfolio to prove it. As a teen, she emailed “all the fashion magazines in Singapore,” eventually scoring an internship with Harper’s Bazaar.
“I don’t think anyone in the office really knew my age,” she laughed. “In hindsight I think it was a good thing,” as the editors trusted her with assignments they may not have if they knew how young she really was. She also gained bylines in the Singapore editions of Vogue and Tatler.
Scoring an impressive publishing deal from Penguin Random House, her first novel, the Singapore-set “The Fraud Squad,” (written while she was still at Stanford) came out last year, and she has a children’s book – “May the Best Player Win,” about a middle-school chess prodigy – due out in September. Honors include being named to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list and being selected by Tatler Asia as a “Leader of Tomorrow” for her work championing and centering Asian characters as an author.
With her writing, she aims to fight tired cultural stereotypes and increase “the variety of ways in which Asians are portrayed in the media so that people don’t think a certain group has to be pigeonholed or limited to a certain path,” she said.
While she misses her family in Singapore, the Campbell resident said she’s settled into Bay Area living over the years.
“I’ve carved out a routine for myself. I have my favorite coffee shops, my support systems, my friends here,” she said. “I managed to build a home away from home.”
Readers familiar with the Peninsula will recognize a plethora of familiar references in “Valley Verified,” including Blue Bottle Coffee, Teaspoon, Dishdash, Jin Sho and Terún; the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel; the baffling, tech-jargon-infused billboards along U.S. Highway 101; and the California Avenue farmers market (a favored destination for Zoe’s hunky co-worker).
“These are the places that have kind of witnessed my growth over the past few years,” she said of including such local details. “They really kind of defined my life in Silicon Valley in my mind.”
One of the darkest themes in “Valley Verified” is sexism, both blatant and hidden, within Silicon Valley culture, including how women can be pitted against each other.
“I would say I’ve been very lucky at my current job. I have not faced any explicitly sexist behavior,” Zhao said. However, “I have a lot of friends working in the tech industry. Some of my female friends have not been as lucky, from microaggressions to outright sexual harassment. I wanted to convey that sexism can really express itself in a multitude of ways.”
Working on “Valley Verified” has helped her process her own experiences, and she hopes it will resonate with readers as well.
“I hope that this book helps someone feel more seen, because writing this book really helped me figure out a lot of the imposter syndrome,” she said. “I’m not great at facing my emotions. When I do a work of fiction, I’m kind of exploring my feelings via my fictional characters.”
To learn more about Kyla Zhao or to buy “Valley Verified,” visit her website. Instagram: @kylajzhao.