She is a writer, an award-winning freelance journalist, and a former senior editor of Workforce Magazine.
[1] During the 1970s, Brenda and her husband were anti-war and human rights activists, particularly advocating for Korean unification.
In 1999, she received her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Antioch University, Los Angeles.
Her memoir on loss and healing, Seaweed and Shamans: Inheriting the Gifts of Grief, has been published in English, Korean and Vietnamese.
Her photo essay collection "Vietnam Moment" conveys her knowledge of and affection for the Vietnamese people.