Lian Chen

Lian was born on March 8, 1985, in Taipei, Taiwan. From a young age, Lian demonstrated exceptional talent, especially in painting and music. In one early childhood experience, Lian’s initial steps on a painting assignment made no sense to the classroom observers until after 20 minutes, everyone became amazed that Lian was painting an image so advanced over her classmates’ skill level. Lian started learning piano at the age of five, and by fourth grade in elementary school, she had achieved the highest Yamaha student ranking. She used her talents and a strong work ethic to excel in her elementary and middle schools and enter Taiwan’s top girl’s high school.

After high school, Lian strove to stellar post-secondary academic achievements, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in International Business from Taiwan National University before moving to the United States, where she earned a Master of Science degree in statistics from the University of Chicago. She then proceeded to a series of positions at Fortune 500 companies. In 2012 she was hired at Discover to perform data analytics. In 2014 she moved to the New York City metro area, first working for American Express in the company’s OPEN customer analytics program and later as a lead data scientist for Aetna. In 2017, she was hired by Microsoft as a senior data scientist and moved to the Seattle area. While at Microsoft, she worked with the OneDrive, SharePoint, and Bing project teams. From 2021, she first worked at Facebook/Meta as a research scientist in the company’s ads and business products, and then as a senior data scientist for ads at DoorDash. Her current position was leading a team as Senior Manager for Data Science at Walmart Global Tech.

Outside Lian’s noteworthy career, she found balance in personal activities, and especially enjoyed testing herself with new experiences. In these, her strong drive showed. For instance, while in college at Taiwan National University, she joined a street dance club, participating in many exuberant, joy-filled performances. Later, when she was living in the Seattle area, although she did not see herself as an outdoor sport enthusiast, she enjoyed a hiking trip to Wallace Falls State Park northeast of Seattle so much that her fast walking pace challenged her friends to keep up.

Applying her research skills to find the best food, Lian constantly sought out various gourmet restaurants. She was sometimes so intent on eating at a particular restaurant that she would arrive at noon to reserve seating for the evening. At the beginning of the Covid epidemic, with restaurants only offering outdoor seating despite the cold winter weather, Lian could be found wrapped up tightly, seated beside her shivering friends, with just the small circle of Lian’s face showing as she waited for her outdoor dinner. Lian was an avid fan of Korean dramas, which she often watched at home accompanied by her adored cat Chen Pon Pon and Jiang Jiang the Shiba Inu. Lian was a considerate friend and daughter, applying her analytical skills to uncannily predict the exact words a friend was about to say, keeping family and friends’ wishes and needs in mind, making efforts to find a special restaurant or special gift.

She is survived by her father and mother, Chung-Min Chen and Shih-Chia Wang of Taipei, Taiwan, and her brother and sister-in-law and niece, Yu-Jui Chen, Wei-Chen Jiang, and Yi-Han Chen of Hsinchu, Taiwan.