Angela Meng: Immigrated to the US at age 11, from a journalist and model to the Chinese-American boss of Coinbase

Original author: Jaleel Jialiu , BlockBeats

Who is Angela Meng? This may be the biggest news in the Chinese crypto community these days.

In the crypto industry, marriage news can also spark a discussion, especially when the protagonist is Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, the worlds most well-known cryptocurrency trading platform. Recently, Brian announced on social media that he had been married to Angela Meng for a week, and this news quickly sparked heated discussions in the crypto community. Well-known figures from the global crypto field have sent their blessings, and Cathie Wood of Ark Invest and the founder of MicroStrategy have expressed their sincere congratulations to the newlyweds.

As one of the worlds largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, Coinbase has a market value of $41.4 billion. Coinbase is not only the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the Western world, but also one of the most influential financial technology companies in the world. Coinbase was already a company with no worries about funding before its listing, and it has become even more popular after its listing. According to data, about 13 out of every 100 people in the United States use Coinbase for transactions.

Brian Armstrongs personal wealth has also been rising with the rise of Coinbase. His current net worth is approximately US$7.4 billion, making him one of the important figures in the global cryptocurrency field.

The appearance of Angela Meng naturally aroused peoples great curiosity about her, especially her Asian identity made the Chinese community feel close. Some members of the crypto community even compared her with another Chinese exchange boss lady - He Yi of Binance. Although Angela seemed to have no trace of being involved in the crypto field before, everyone cant help but wonder whether she will become Brians right-hand man in his career, play an important role in the crypto world like He Yi, or continue her career as a journalist in the crypto industry.

From the limited information, BlockBeats pieced together Angelas growth experience: she immigrated to the United States at the age of 11 and shared a house with two other families. She believed that her original family was between the working class and the new peasant class. When she went to middle school in the United States, like most children who immigrated at an early age, she had difficulty integrating into the society and was often bullied by local children. She raised a German shepherd mix for more than half a year, but her parents could not afford the cost of adopting it. She entered UCLA for college and became a reporter and model after graduation...

Immigrated to the United States at the age of 11, and lived in a house with three families

Angela lived with her grandparents for ten years before leaving China. Angelas grandmother worked in a paper mill and had only a high school education, but after universities reopened, she joined the University of Science and Technology of China as a laboratory assistant and was eventually promoted to professor because she was well-liked by students.

Angelas childhood memories include many times spent in the kitchen with her grandmother. The kitchen was dimly lit, there was no hot water, green beans sizzled in the wok, and the kettle on the stove began to make a sharp sound. Her grandmother brought her a small stool and asked her to sit next to her to help cut vegetables while she cooked. After dinner, they did homework together, cleaned the kitchen, and occasionally watched the news. Every month, she would help her grandmother dye her hair, and her grandmother would help her braid her hair.

Childhood Angela Meng and her grandmother, source Angela

As a generation under Chinas one-child policy, Angela and her peers are usually spoiled, but her grandmother gave her a good early education. Like her surrogate mother, it was her grandmother who taught her diligence, humility and integrity. Angelas grandmother passed away on the morning of May 6, 2020. Angela was in California at the time, and the 15-hour time difference made her feel that her grandmother was still alive in her own time when she received the news.

When Angela was 11 years old, she and her mother came to the United States to reunite with her father. The three of them lived in a single-story room. They shared the small house with two other immigrant families, renting the cheapest bedroom in the middle for $400 a month. They shared the front door with one family and the back door with another family, and the bathroom was used by three families in turn.

One of the two neighbors is a family of three. Angelas parents respect them very much because they have green cards and can speak basic English. They occupy the most beautiful part of the house, with a rose and some wild mint in the front yard. The mother of this family, Annie, is a warehouse receptionist who often practices yoga and often shows Angelas family the real American life through brief exclamations: Americans like pickup trucks, hamburgers, pizza, and sometimes they eat vegetables raw, which is called salad.

Angela was fascinated by her neighbor Annies description of social class in the United States. Because in her opinion, China, where she was born, is composed of three parts:

1) People who are politically connected and therefore wealthy and educated;

2) the working class, who are far less wealthy and far less educated;

3) The peasant class, which makes up about 65% of the population, is made up of uneducated and poor agricultural workers, literally called peasants.

Angela remembers going to the supermarket with her mother once and wanting to buy a box of strawberries that ripen quickly, but her mother apologized to Angela after seeing the price and asked her to put down the strawberries at $3.99 per pound and get some Fuji apples at $0.69 per pound.

In addition to the respected neighbor Annies family, Angela has another neighbor who is a family of four illegal immigrants, a pair of parents and a pair of twins. Angelas parents and neighbor Annie look down on this illegal immigrant family because they work below the minimum wage, with irregular working hours, suitable for undocumented workers but harmful to health. The neighbors father works at a construction site three hours away, and the mother is a nursing assistant for the elderly. She was an illiterate farmer in China. But Angela is full of good feelings for this neighbor because they do not show obvious cultural inferiority like neighbor Annie and her parents. With them, there is no talk of class or social status, nor jealousy or superiority. Although they often go home covered in dust or smell of sewage, they are warm without self-pity, curious without preaching, and seem to have a natural talent for accepting life.

The twins are troublemakers, but they are also Angelas best friends in childhood. The twin boys are named Kevin, and the twin girls are excited about having an English name and keep changing their names, such as April, June, Olivia, and this week Samantha.

Outsider, the life of being bullied in middle school

On the first day of high school in the United States, Angelas mother dressed her in what is considered cool in China: a bright blue sweater with BABY SEXY DREAM written on it and a magenta bear pattern underneath, a so-called Louis Vuitton headband (Louis Vuitton doesnt make headbands at all) , and a pair of color-blocked blue pants that were too big at the waist and too short at the bottom.

Unlike her current image of always smiling and working as a model for Elite Model Management and LA Models, Angela almost never smiled back then, always staring down at her shoes, afraid that others wouldnt smile back. She had no social skills and spoke terrible English. When someone asked her why she didnt climb the monkey bars, she said in her broken English, is very ouch (meaning it hurts), thinking that this sentence could express her fear of falling.

She grew up very fast. When she was in middle school, she was about 152 cm tall, but weighed only 32 kg. Most of the children in her class were about 135 cm tall and of normal build, so Angela stood out from the crowd. Because she was afraid of being laughed at by others, she often walked with a hunched back and avoided eye contact with people.

Angela hated the playground because she had never used her body for anything other than to carry her thoughts. She was clumsy, off-balance, and uncoordinated on the playground. She had never thrown a ball, let alone caught it. Dodgeball was Angelas most hated sport, the one she blamed for her post-traumatic stress disorder in elementary school. She would either shuffle awkwardly or jerk back with her arms flailing. Most of her classmates had grown up in a diverse education system with the agility of a cheetah and the gymnastics skills of a jungle monkey.

Like most children of immigrants, Angela was born with a thin body and an unsociable appearance, which made it difficult for her to fit in with the group of middle school students. She became the target of ridicule and bullying by her peers. They did not hesitate to give her all kinds of vicious nicknames, such as skinny bone jones, bulimic bitch, Jap, chink, gook and dumpling dumpster.

Angela was thrown into a world that was completely different from the Chinese education system she was familiar with. In Chinese schools, academic excellence is the only standard, respect is earned through perfect grades and mastering musical instruments, and any unruly behavior will not be tolerated. However, American schools are more like anarchy. Students curse each other and throw paper balls, and the teacher will only perfunctorily say stop it and then let the situation deteriorate. Here, everyone seems to have a fixed social role, hardworking children are labeled as nerds and losers, and respect is often not earned in the classroom, but earned through physical dominance on the playground during recess.

One afternoon, Angela was walking home when three of her science classmates caught up with her. Hey, you! the leader of the group called out. Angela said nothing, but quickened her pace to get home. A few hours ago, they had huddled together to complete a group project under the supervision of the teacher, and seemed friendly and civilized, but now they turned into savages again.

Hey, SKINNY-ASS BITCH! the leader of the group yelled even louder and grabbed the handle of Angelas backpack, You think youre better than us? Angela was grabbed by her hair and dragged to the side; another person opened her backpack and started taking things out.

Angela tried to break free, but her struggle only made the other man push harder. They pulled for a whole block until they reached Angelas home, where her mother heard the commotion outside and leaned out the window.

Angela knew from her years of experience dealing with bullying that the most humiliating thing was to let her mother see her being bullied at school. So, she chose to do the only thing she could think of at the time - laugh. She laughed so loudly that the whole block could hear it. Although her reaction confused the bullies, they still didnt let go.

Just when she was about to despair, a German shepherd mix came running out, with the hair on its back standing up and letting out a low growl. It rushed straight towards the children who bullied Angela and kept barking until the bullies ran away in panic.

Mickey, Angelas first adopted dog

The German shepherd mix was a stray dog on the block, and Angela had been secretly caring for it. Angela had spent a long time on the front steps of her house, processing her shame and fear, and it sat in front of her, one chubby paw on her knee, holding up the world.

On the days when I came home bruised and humiliated, it saved me, keeping me optimistic with its innate wit and wisdom, as if to say to me: This is life. These are Angelas original words.

Left: wedding scene; Right: Angelas Instagram

Just as they walked down the aisle with a dog at their wedding, this German Shepherd was also very important to Angela in her growing up life.

Angela named the German Shepherd mix Mickey because Mickey Mouse was the only American cartoon character she knew at the time. As time went by, Mickey became an important partner in her life.

German Shepherd. Photo: Jena Ardell/Getty Images

There is a scientific theory that pet owners give their own ego when describing their pets: for example, bodybuilders will describe their pets as the strongest, politicians think their pets are picky and independent, and celebrities will say their pets are princesses. Angela is also well versed in this theory. Her description of Mickey seems to give us a glimpse into the ego and personality of the Chinese wife of the American crypto giant:

Mickey never complains, as if she understands the truth of the world like a philosopher: without hardship and pain, there would be no happiness. She is firm and steady, not the kind of dog that jumps on furniture or turns over on its belly to be petted. Every movement she makes is slow and cautious, strong and confident, as calm and composed as a Sphinx (an Egyptian creature with a lion body, eagle wings and a human head that symbolizes strength and wisdom).

Angela, photo from thebigthing.org

However, this delicate balance was suddenly broken. One day, Angela found that Mickey was missing. She asked her mother anxiously, Mom, where is Mickey? Her mother did not answer her question directly. With a deliberately cold look on her face, she asked her to do her homework. Angela asked again and again, but her mother asked coldly, What dog? and fell silent.

This answer instantly plunged Angela into deep confusion and pain. She knew her mother must know what happened, but her mothers indifference made her feel rejected and alienated. At this time, her mother was not unaware of Angelas feelings, but she was facing a difficult reality in her own way: she could no longer let her daughter rely too much on the dog. The family has already endured too much pressure and challenges, and raising a dog is not an option they can afford at the moment, and Angelas mother has a deep fear of dogs.

In China, dogs are an animal that is almost never respected. It was not until 2020 that dogs were removed from the definition of livestock and became companion animals. For Angelas mother, the long-standing fear and stereotype about rabies legends did not disappear so quickly.

Eventually, Angela found out through her own methods that Mickeys legs were broken by his roommate because he barked too much, and he was then abandoned at a construction site three hours away from home. When she questioned her parents, they fell into endless excuses and accusations.

What else can we do, Angela? Have you forgotten? How much sacrifice we have made so that you can receive an education here? How much sweat and tears have we shed? How many relatives and friends have we given up? We dont even have health insurance for ourselves, how can we afford to take our dog to the doctor?

Every word of the mother was filled with helplessness about real life. She didnt deliberately hurt Angela, but she left some trauma on the young Angela. When she grew up, Angela was often asked, Have you ever had a dog? She would always answer, Yes, it was a German shepherd mix named Micke, named after a Disney character, but she died not long after I had her. She decided not to tell them the truth, because everyone in this story has their own helplessness.

For a long time after that, Angela decided to never talk to her parents again, expressing her unwillingness to surrender in this way. She then grew up in silence, found a job to support herself, did not invite them to her graduation ceremony or wedding, and even did not let them attend her funeral if she died before them.

Until one day before school, Angela put on her schoolbag and looked in front of the mirror to make sure her face was expressionless. Her mother called her over with a crumpled hundred-dollar bill in her hand. To Angela at that time, the hundred-dollar bill was an urban legend.

But the woman who bought Fuji apples at $0.69 per pound instead of strawberries at $3.99 per pound, Angelas mother, unzipped the side of Angelas school bag, didnt say anything, just put the money in her bag, and then gently touched her head.

Angela suddenly realized that love does not always appear in the expected way, and the language of love can be in many forms. Unlike Mickeys company, this hundred dollars is a quarter of their monthly rent. Perhaps in the eyes of the mother, it is the only support and language of love she can give Angela.

From UCLA to journalist, model and writer

In West Africa, there are bards, storytellers, who are responsible for preserving the history of entire villages. People come to the bards with their memories, and the bards remember them for future generations.

Angela Meng mentioned these bards in her stories, and she always seemed to put herself in such a role and position. When she encountered some unexpected stories, she would always take out paper and pen to write them down. This also seemed to have destined her career development to become a journalist.

Angela studied history at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). After graduating from college, she worked in the investment banking department of Lazard in New York, and then worked at the South China Morning Post, Phoenix Daily, and GEN Magazine. During this period, she also recorded her own stories on Medium and published a book.

Because of her outstanding appearance, Angela was discovered by a scout and began a four-year modeling career. She worked as a model for Elite Model Management and LA Models, often participated in photo shoots and attended art events.

Angela at the 2022 Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Gala. Image source: BFA

Angela, who is in her early 20s, is similar to and yet different from ordinary women.

Like most young women, Angela loves sweets, especially a traditional Arabic dessert called Jordanian knafeh, which is usually made with cheese, clotted cream, pistachios or nuts.

Jordanian knafeh (Jordanian knafeh), source network

But unlike ordinary young women, Angela likes to observe ants. She has a honeypot ant colony on her desk, which can simulate the real ecology of ants. The price of the ant ecological jar is not expensive, about a few hundred dollars, but the expensive part is the ants.

It is said that in the minds of some ant lovers, these pet ants are most famous from Kenya and Mexico. The price of one ant can be as high as tens of thousands of yuan, and the price of a nest can even be equivalent to a house.

Ant Eco-Can, source: Internet

After that, Angela lived in Los Angeles and started her life as a writer. Her book The Big Thing: Brave Bea finds silver linings with the help of family and friends during a global pandemic has been published.

This is an illustrated childrens book that focuses on themes of family, gratitude and belonging, trying to help children understand the coronavirus period from a positive rather than negative perspective. The story is about the magical and positive story that the protagonist experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. With the help of family, teachers and friends, the protagonist discovers how to find a silver lining and see the positive side of the crisis. It is said that all sales of the book are donated to COVID-19 charities.

Image source: thebigthing.org

The watershed of 30 years old, anxiety and struggle

In 2021, Angela Meng is nearly 30 years old and is beginning to experience the so-called 30-year-old anxiety.

Although someone told her that 30 is the best age of life, with financial stability, a stable life, good health and a peaceful mental state, just like high-end cities such as Zurich, Calgary or Copenhagen - clean air, low crime rate, perfect infrastructure and efficient governance. But Angela felt that all this did not attract her three years ago. She would rather be like Berlin, Tbilisi or Tel Aviv, which is full of chaos, vitality and unknown.

In her article Dont Make Me 30, she frankly expressed her resistance to entering the 30-year-old dividing line, because she would have to give up many things she liked in the past. She asked in great confusion: What is 30 years old?

She doesn’t want to give up her favorite nightclubs, and she misses the nights she spent in polyester miniskirts and four-inch heels, screaming in front of the DJ booth, even though she may have been tired of it. She doesn’t want to have a mortgage, or make friends with people who have a mortgage. She would rather have endless social capital and use it recklessly - this is the privilege that comes with being 20.

She doesnt want to plan for a retirement or save money to live comfortably. Shed rather spend it on designer bags and champagne. She doesnt want a long-term relationship with a mature man, and instead, she prefers to attract emotional manipulators who appear to be real and sincere because thats the lifestyle she wants.

Angela doesn’t want to write blog posts about “finally feeling whole,” or “feeling stronger,” or “no longer bothered by society’s expectations.” She just wants to continue to be “very attractive.” She doesn’t want to learn to “love herself,” because she’s had enough people lined up to love her in her 20s. She doesn’t want to face the fact that she’s moving closer to the female version of Sex and the City, going out to dinner with any New York guy who’ll take her on a date, laughing off their silly jokes while her five remaining eggs tick in the dark.

Angela didn’t want to start meditating, or go to a yoga retreat in India, or start using those empty aphorisms that only 30-year-old women say, like “age is just a number” or “30 is the new 20.” She knew deep down that these statements were just lies to comfort herself. You’re 30, and that’s the reality.

Brian Armstrongs $133 million Los Angeles home

In 2024, when Angela and Brian Armstrong get married, she is already 30 years old. Although she still walks into the kind of life she resisted in her 20s, fortunately, Brian Armstrong, 41, has $7.4 billion in assets, so she can still spend money lavishly and spend money on brand-name bags and champagne. And she can still live in the familiar Los Angeles as before, but she has moved from her apartment to the luxury villa that Brian Armstrong bought for $133 million in 2022.

References:

1. Love Can Look Like So Many Things, Angela Meng;

2. Dont Make Me 30, Angela Meng;

3. Soulcatcher, Notes on watching my grandmother love, age, and embrace cheap music, The dog that saved me, the dog I couldnt save, Angela Meng;