An Interview With Karen Cheng

As web-logs (or blogs) become integrated in the lives of many technology-driven individuals and corporate lives, this month, Integricity is proud to feature Karen Cheng, a full time mother of two who resides in the city of Perth, Western Australia. She writes about parenting, fashion, design, photography, gardening and many snippets of her life. Her blog, which started in 1999, has been listed as one of the Top 20 Most Popular Blogs in Australia, been a finalist for the 2006 Bloggie Awards for Best Designed Weblog, and Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog. She has also been featured and reviewed in cool online magazines such as About.com and Photoshop Support.

Read on, as we had the honor to interview this colorful lady!

1. Some term success as making more money or climbing the corporate ladder or to some, to experience the world. For you, what’s the most important thing in life?

Above all, my definition of a successful life is to be truly and completely happy where ever I am in my life, whatever the circumstance.

2. You went from being a graphic designer to a full time mum now. What is your greatest satisfaction for this change?

Watching my boys grow up; enjoying and sharing the simple pleasures in life with my family.

Kids grow up so quickly. I’ve been told that by the age of 3 they pretty much show the kind of character they will have for the rest of their lives. So I find great satisfaction in being their greatest influence, and crafting the experiences and environment that will hopefully create some fine young men.

3. Do you still apply your professional skills since becoming a home maker? Any plans of returning to the corporate world once your kids grow up a little more?

I still get lots of offers to do freelance and contract work, which I turn down.

I like to keep my design/art skills challenged with my blog, community work (designing sites, posters, flyers for local organisations), maybe doing an odd job for friends and now an art exhibition coming up.

In the future? I have so many interests that I want to pursue, who knows, maybe some might become income earners! 4. On your busy days, what would be the easiest meal to cook up to cater for kids and your husband? Some of us here need some cooking tips!

My easiest, laziest, simplest, healthiest and tastiest recipe :

Tuna Rice Salad

Mix steaming hot, cooked rice to a can of tuna in oil, a can of corn kernels (drained) , a can of four bean mix (drained) and a handful of raw vegetables sitting in the fridge (spinach, cherry tomatoes green beans). Salt and pepper. Serve warm.

My kids, husband and I just love it. Never any left-overs.

5. Explain to us how the blog-sphere is like in Australia in comparison with other countries such as Malaysia or even the States.

I’m not actually sure what the differences are! I’ve got blog-friends from all over the world, so my blog community has been what I make it.

6. How does design fascinate and captivate you? Give us examples.

To me, design is about solving problems in clever and beautiful ways. It’s the opportunity to reach out to people, catch their attention, and connect with them – making them laugh, cry, be surprised, annoyed, learn something or be moved.

Design is in everything. I love seeing it everywhere around me – in nature, in man made objects, in experiences.

7. We understand that on your blog, you have Google ads on it. Are you actually making money out of it? Do Google ads have any downside to it?

For years I refused to put ads on my site (for aesthetic reasons), but my traffic grew to a point where I was forced to pay quite a bit for my bandwidth.

So I decided that if I was going to have ads on my site, I’m going to at least make them look beautiful, and integrate them into the design of my site.

I put in some Google ads– specially designing their backgrounds – which caused a huge amount of interest and debate in the blogging world.

The money I earn from my Google ads is enough to cover my hosting and bandwidth costs, so that makes me happy.

I think they look great on my site, and they offer my readers interesting services related to my blog (if they are so inclined), so no I don’t find any downsides to having the Google ads on my site.

8. Just for the record, have you visited our lovely country before? If yes, tell us some of your memories. If not, will you, sometime in the future?

I visited Malaysia a few times, when I was a little girl. I had relatives living there.

I know lots of Malaysians! And lots of people who go back to visit (including my parents)! They all make me very jealous with their stories of the food and shopping!

I definitely want to visit one day. Aside from food and shopping, I want to climb Mount Kinabalu, and go scuba diving there!

Thank you for your time, Karen – the Integricity Fanatical Voices Team appreciates your responses to our questions.