Yu Juanjuan was born in China, in 1958 and grew up during the social, political, and economic upheaval of Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. In 1997, she moved to the United States and currently classes on Chinese culture, language and cooking as well as arranging and leading customized heritage tours of her native country. She lives with her husband, Phil Wegener in Boulder, Colorado. She has been teaching for over twenty years. She enjoys biking, skiing, river running, and traveling.