Growing up
Her Life Story
Jannie Lam was born in Oakland, California. She comes from a small family and is the eldest of two girls. She is first generation American. Her Grandmother immigrated to the United States from Cambodia and has lived here ever since.
After high school Jannie attended Cal State Long Beach and graduated with a degree in Theatre Arts.
Jannie loved being involved in school clubs and events. She was Vice President of her senior class, President of the Pacific Islander and Asian American club, Member of the Charity and Science club. She was also crowned prom queen. As active as she was in all of these extra curricular activities, she still focused on her studies and was at the top of her class as an honor student and selected to be in the National Honors Society.
Growing up as the eldest sibling in a first generation family, Jannie felt her parents put a lot of pressure on her to excel in school and sports. Jannie also had a hard time fitting amongst her peers at first. She was ruthlessly bullied and tormented by the other kids at school for most of her childhood. Which is why she considers elementary and middle school as some of the worst times in her life…
At one point it was almost unbearable for Jannie to go on another day. She hated her life SO much that at one point she wished to die everyday. But as hard as it was for her, she took it a day at a time and just kept moving forward. By high school things took a turn for the better when she found the right group of friends who helped lift her up, instead of constantly putting her down.
Now, Jannie has made it her mission to help others who have been bullied. So she has started to anti-bullying campaigns to raise awareness around bullying and the effect it can have on people and their families.
her life now
Her Successes
Jannie has always had a passion for food and she was intrigued by the culinary world since she was a child.
She learned how to cook by watching her mother and grandmother in the kitchen. And as she got older she started to emulate them, eventually she blossomed into an amazing home cook.
In 2018, Jannie put her culinary skills to the test when she auditioned for Season 9 of MasterChef on Fox. Jannie cooked one of her favorite Cambodian dishes, and finished in the top 43 of all the home cooks in America —needless to say, she put Cambodian food on the map amongst the judges!
After Masterchef wrapped up, Jannie went onto compete in the Miss Asian North America pageant where she was named 3rd runner up and won the current title of Ms. Asian Las Vegas and was also voted Miss People’s Choice.
Earlier this year Jannie started a YouTube cooking show called, “Vegas Vixen in the Kitchen”. The title of her show stemming from the nickname the producers gave her on MasterChef and has since became a running joke amongst her friends.
On YouTube, Jannie makes traditional Cambodian recipes as well as some of her contemporary favorites in a weekly episode that airs every Wednesday. Since starting the show last winter, he audience has been rapidly growing and expanding and she’s excited to see what the future holds for her YouTube career.
Jannie currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada where she works in sales and marketing for MGM Resorts International in their Events and Nightlife department. While she is still somewhat new in her role, Jannie is loving the challenges it brings everyday and she is striving to become a company executive one day!
