Grace Meng: Biography
Grace Meng was born on October 1, 1975, in Elmhurst, Queens, New York . Her Chinese name is Meng Zhaowen . She is the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants Jimmy Kuang Zui Meng and Shiao Mei Wang, both originally from mainland China . Her father, born in 1943 in Shandong Province, China, relocated to Taiwan following the Chinese Communist Party's takeover of the mainland before immigrating to the United States in the 1970s . Her mother followed a similar migration path from China through Taiwan before settling in Queens . Meng is of waishengren Taiwanese descent . She has at least two siblings, as her father has three children .
Education
Meng was raised across the Elmhurst, Bayside, and Flushing neighborhoods of Queens, attending local public schools during a period when Asian Americans comprised a small minority in the area . She attended Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School before enrolling at Stuyvesant High School, the competitive public magnet school in Manhattan, from which she graduated in 1993 . She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1997, where she studied Chinese and history . She then returned to New York and earned her Juris Doctor from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University in 2002 . One of her early mentors was Susan Wu Rathbone, founder of the Queens Chinese Women's Association .
Marriage and Family
Meng married Wayne Kye, a Korean American dentist whom she has described as her high school sweetheart, in June 2005 . Kye is a Clinical Associate Professor of Periodontology and Implant Dentistry at the New York University College of Dentistry, where he has been a full-time faculty member since 2004 . He is also a product of Stuyvesant High School and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Biology from NYU, a DDS from the NYU College of Dentistry, and a Certificate in Periodontics along with a Master of Science in Oral Biology from the University of Maryland . Kye maintains private clinical practices in Queens and Manhattan in addition to his academic work . The couple resides in Queens with their two sons, Tyler and Brandon, and their dog, Bounce .
Religion
Meng identifies as Christian and attends a Protestant church in Forest Hills, Queens .
Net Worth
OpenSecrets estimated Meng's net worth at approximately $708,522 as of her 2018 financial disclosure filings . Her husband's dual income from academic work at NYU and private dental practices contributes to the household's financial profile. Meng's congressional salary is the standard rate for members of the House of Representatives. No significant controversies related to her personal finances have been publicly reported.