Shirley Fong-Torres

With a contagious sense of humor and larger than life personality, Shirley Fong-Torres travels the world to unique destinations that intrigue her interest as well as her appetite. She’s a TV chef, food and travel writer, public speaker and the founder of Wok Wiz, a touring company that guides visitors through the streets of San Francisco’s Chinatown.

The daughter of Chinese immigrants, Shirley’s last name is one of mischief: “My father came to America at a time when the Exclusion Act of 1882 [was still in effect] … it was easier to gain entry if he did not have a Chinese name.” Shirley explains that her father moved to Manila, Philippines, saved his money, and purchased a “false docu-ment” stating his name was Ricardo Torres. Soon after, the exclusion act was repealed in 1943, and years later a new immigration act was passed in 1965. “Dad went to court to become a citizen and change his name from Ricardo to Richard, drop Torres and kept Fong (his true last name); at the last minute he de-cided to hyphenate the name, combining his true and fake last name,” she says.

Although Shirley has a successful career, like most people, her life has been a balance of good and bad occur-rences, one of which changed her life completely. She was a losing contestant on the Wheel of Fortune. Yet her home-town was so proud of her appearance on the show that they threw a party and invited her to write a story about her experience as a loser. It became the front page of the people section of the San Francisco paper. “I believe when something good doesn’t happen to you, something good is around the corner,” she says.

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