Born in 1938, Janey Mildred Young was determined to have a career in science despite discrimination against Chinese Americans and women and her parents' view that she should devote herself to her husband rather than a career. Influenced by the changing social mores of the 1960s, Janey studied micro-biology at Stanford and the University of Oregon Medical School and received a doctorate in education from Rutgers. She was a laboratory assistant for a Nobel Prize winner at Stanford Medical School, where she was mentored to conduct her first independent research study. She became a California state-certified microbiologist and a systems engineer at Bell Laboratories, where she was the first Asian American woman to win the company's highest technical award. She was also a devoted wife and mother to three sons.

During their courtship Janey wrote 167 letters to her future husband, Richard Cheu, while they were separated at different schools. In her letters she talked about her dreams for her career, the tedium and excitement of lab work, reconciling the young couple's values with their parents' expectations, and preparations for their elaborate wedding in San Francisco's Chinatown. Love Letters from Janey is a compilation of the letters and a reflection on Chinese American life in the 20th century.