Born in Missouri, raised in Hawaii and having lived in Guam, California, and Japan at different stages in her life, Iris Yamashita was able to experience a diversity of culture while growing up. She graduated with a B.S. Cum Laude in Bioengineering from UC San Diego and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley. She also spent a year in Japan, attended the University of Tokyo as a research student, studying "Virtual Reality."However, Iris's true passion has always been writing fiction. Two of Iris's short stories have been published in All Nippon Airway's in-flight magazine, "Wingspan," after twice winning first place in their international short fiction contest. One of her screenplays won first place honors in the Big Bear Lake Screenwriting Competition. There, she was approached by Cathy Tarr at CAA, who was a presiding judge for the competition and who now represents her.