Raised within Prince George, British Columbia, she was once an political economy adviser to late Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau in the Prime Minister's Office from either 1980-84. Prior to that, she was an economic expert by having a Ministry of Finance (Canada)|Ministry of Finance].

Her career around writing began by owning a discovery of her personal's roots within China, which led to her memoir, ''The Courtesan's Kids: Portrait of the Personal Divided'', which won a City of Vancouver Book Award in 1994, a Edna Staebler Creative Non-Fiction prize, & the VanCity Book Prize, & was on the Earth & Mail's best seller listing for 93 weeks. Her adaptation of her memoir for the stage premiered at Nanaimo's Port Theatre around 2004. Her 2nd book is A Girl in a Picture: a Story of Kim Phuc, the Pic, & the Vietnam War. Two books were finalists for the Governor-General's Literary Non-Fiction Award, & come translated into many languages.

Chong sleep in Ottawa and is married to CTV reporter Roger Smith with 2 kids.