An American Dream, with Sprinkles

The Legacy Story of the Donut Queen & Donut Princess

By: Mayly Tao

Narrated by: Mayly Tao

This memoir, written by Chuong and her daughter, Mayly Tao, pays homage to the arduous journey faced by millions of immigrants who arrive in the United States annually—penniless, without an education, and unable to speak English.

Chuong Lee recounts her journey of homelessness, malnutrition, and labor enslavement in Cambodia. Upon arriving in America, Chuong found herself a part of donut royalty as she married into the family of the Donut King, Ted Ngoy, who opened up hundreds of donut shops for Khmer refugees. Mayly Tao, her daughter, created this book and wrote part of it not only to tell the success story of their family bakery, but to highlight the Asian American perspective through the eyes of a “donut kid”, children who helped their parents with their donut shops. Most of those donut kids never returned to their family donut shops to work, but Mayly did and learned how to use social media to bring the family donut shop to the next level of fame and success to become one of the most popular donut shops in the world.

In addition, this book explores generational differences and cultural importance, including the role of the Asian American woman in her family.

©2022 Mayly Tao (P)2022 Mayly Tao

Author vividly describes her triump

While many have heard of the Khmer Rouge Genocide that started in 1975, many are unclear what happened in Cambodia prior to 1970. The story succinctly covers the politics in the beginning. Then the author shares her mother’s journey, if first person. It took me awhile to figure that out in the audio version. It’s probably different in the book. I love that the author tells the story from a Teochew/Cambodian person’s perspective.