About Heather Lowenthal

Heather Lowenthal is a creative non-fiction essayist writing from mid-life about her family and the cultural blind spots made visible by her mixed American marriage. She describes a collision of expectations when she tried to fit in with her husband’s affluent, Chinese American relatives. They were confused by her “Jewish, but-not-Jewish” last name and considered her square jawline to be “too dangerous.” She had to face the facts of carnivorous eating when asked to boil (slaughter) and pop the heads off fresh shrimp, never having popped the head off anything. Not even a Barbie doll. Through those exchanges she discovers hidden cultural norms of her own that had simply gone undetected.

Heather is currently working on a collection of personal essays about her mixed family for future print publication.

The New York Times published her short story, “Learning to Talk about Money,” identifying the moment when she discovered money-talk wasn’t the universal taboo she believed it to be. Seattle magazine published her work, “Blind Spot,” an essay observing the ways in which people assumed she wasn’t married to, or even with her American Asian husband. Whether they were waiting for a table at Jade Garden or standing in line at Costco, “People never thought we were a couple.”

She writes a bi-monthly column, “Fave Five,” for Seattle magazine about locally grown people, places, and experiences both visitors and Seattleites shouldn’t miss.

A corporate video producer for over 15 years, she most recently produced and directed, “Mixed Six,” a series of three vignettes featuring interviews with mixed American Asian couples who uncover some of the complications and cultural contrasts specific to their relationships. You’ll find the series streaming on Joysauce.com.

She lives full-time in Seattle with her husband and their son, who rolls his eyes and says, “that’s cringe” whenever they speak to him.