Biography
Who is Xiaxue?
Early life and real name
Born Cheng Yan Yan on April 28, 1984, in Singapore, Xiaxue attended River Valley High School. She graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a diploma in mass media and briefly worked as a project coordinator before starting her career as a writer.
Her father worked as an antique dealer while her mother served as a property agent. Her parents are divorced, and she has a younger brother.
How Xiaxue became famous
Xiaxue started blogging in April 2003 after her ex-boyfriend's new girlfriend threw away her paper diary during a Chinese New Year spring cleaning. She chose her pseudonym, which means snowing in Mandarin Chinese, because it sounded mysterious and beautiful.
Her main blog gained widespread attention by attracting about 50,000 readers daily. The site won prestigious accolades such as the Wizbang Weblog Awards Best Asian Blog and the Bloggies Best Asian Weblog.
Career highlights
Building on her blogging success, Xiaxue expanded into mainstream media as a columnist for national newspapers including TODAY and The New Paper, as well as Maxim and Snag magazines. She also served as an editor for Tomorrow.sg and a Star Blogger for the STOMP portal.
In 2006, she co-hosted the reality television series Girls Out Loud on MediaCorp Channel 5 alongside DJ Rosalyn Lee. She also starred in a fortnightly web series titled Xiaxue's Guide to Life on clicknetwork.tv, with her highest-rated episode generating over a million views.
Family and relationships
In 2010, Xiaxue married American engineer Mike Sayre after meeting him online and dating for three years. She gave birth to their son, Dashiel, in March 2013.
After more than a decade of marriage, she announced in 2023 that she and Mike Sayre had split up.
Birthday and age
Xiaxue was born on April 28, 1984, which makes Xiaxue 42 years old today. That birthday falls under the Taurus sign. Xiaxue shares the date with 38 other famous people.
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