An award-winning independent filmmaker, originally from Chicago, Yvonne Welbon received a B.A. in history from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Thereafter, she spent six years in Taipei, Taiwan, where she taught English, learned Mandarin Chinese, and at the age of 23, founded and published a premiere arts magazine with $300. She ran the magazine for five years. Welbon returned to the United States and enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an M.F.A. with a concentration in film