Her mother Lien Chao is a graduate of Canadian literature and English language at York University in Toronto, and also, a popular poet and author for numerous literary works, including The Maples and the Stream and The Chinese Knot.

She claimed numerous shooting titles at the Canadian national championships, and consequently, achieved a fourth-place finish in the women's sport pistol at the 2003 Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with a score of 666.8 points.

[1] She also captured a bronze medal in the pistol shooting pairs, along with her partner Kim Eagles, at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia, posting a combined score of 1,130 points.

[5] In 2007, Chao reached her breakthrough season in shooting, when she won a gold medal for the women's air pistol (AP40) at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, accumulating a score of 468.9 targets (372 in the preliminary rounds and 96.9 in the final).

[8][9] Three days later, Chao competed for her second event, 25 m pistol, where she was able to shoot 277 targets in the precision stage, and 281 in the rapid fire, for a total score of 558 points, finishing only in forty-first place.