About Me
Embracing my nomadic roots.
I am a Hmong American who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand at the end of the Vietnam War. The Hmong people have their own language and culture, but have never had their own country. I am one of seven children born to Yakao and Ly Yang. My father and mother both worked hard to raise us children to give us all that they never had. They ensured we continued our school work and got an education to succeed. As a child, every summer we looked forward to going on vacation to visit relatives and discover new places. We did so much traveling that we drove through every state in America except Hawaii and Alaska.
Our family was sponsored by a church group in South Dakota for us to come to America as refugees after the Vietnam War. I grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and moved to the Twin Cities in Minnesota to continue my education at the University of Minnesota. It was there that I completed a Bachelor of Science in Design Communications. I lived in Minnesota for 19 years and moved to Fort Myers, FL in 2013.
Currently, I am an empty nester who is traveling with my husband wherever his job takes him. I met my husband Brian in 2012 in an Irish Pub called the Claddagh in Maple Grove, MN and the rest is history. He has been in the heat treatment industry for many years, which is a very specialized career that demands a lot of travel all over the world. I have two daughters who have graduated college from Florida schools, both receiving full rides. I am so super proud of both of them and fully support them in anything they want to pursue. Olivia, the eldest, followed her passion for fashion and travel as well and is now a Stitcher for Celebrity Cruises. She has already been to 33 ports in 25 countries in her first year of work! Ilise my younger daughter has just graduated from UCF in Advertising and Marketing and is still finding her way.
Professionally, I have been a graphic designer since 1999. My career started in the Twin Cities where I worked for a large non-profit, the Builders Association of the Twin Cities. They had the largest “Parade of Homes” event in the country and I worked on their many magazines and events. I later got involved in package design with a company called Resonix, LLC. They were a small company but reached over a million in sales while I was there designing their packaging. I designed packaging for products sold in Sherwin-Williams, Menards, Office Depot, and Dollar General.
When Brian and I got married in 2013 we moved to Fort Myers, Florida where I have been mostly freelancing a majority of the time. I was very fortunate to have spent a little time at Fox 4 where I was able to make two on-air appearances on the Morning Blend Talk Show and dabbled in Teaching at Southern Technical College as an Adjunct Instructor for the Graphic Design Program.
Currently, I enjoy working for myself under the umbrella of Siva McAteer Design Group, LLC. I love graphic design, web design, and short-form video creation. I have also created two self-publishing companies called Hmong Book Publishing and Claddagh House Publishing so that anyone who wanted self-publishing services could be published.
Travel
Travel is something I have always loved and that my parents instilled in me at a young age. Any chance that I get to travel my bags are ready to go. I am very fortunate to have met my husband Brian, who is full-blown Scottish when I was living in the Twin Cities. Little did I know that when I met him at the Claddagh Irish Pub he traveled a lot for his job. Having a husband who is on the road all the time has its pros and cons. It was hard having my husband gone all the time raising my two daughters, but at the same time, we got to spend time with him on the road any chance we could get.
Food
Who doesn’t love to eat? I have always loved to cook and try new recipes, but I never considered myself a foodie until the summer of 2018 when our family spent the summer in Huntington Beach, CA. My kids were 16 and 17 and when I asked them what they wanted to do they said, “I want to eat food.” We tried as many Instagrammable spots in Orange County and LA as we could. From that summer, we love to check out new restaurants and trending foods.
Experiences
We are a family of adventure seekers! There are so many wonderful things to see in the world. As a travel lover, I love reading and learning about new places to see and explore. I hope to give you the insight you need to take that first step to planning your next vacation. I have been very fortunate to have been to so many wonderful places. I want to inform and inspire you to get out and see the world. If you have any questions on any of the destinations I have been to please feel free to drop me a message!
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