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Phyo was born on July 17, 1968, in Nova Scotia, Canada. Phyo is of Korean descent. Her father raised her on mostly vegan fresh whole and raw foods. They had their own organic farm growing up, and grew their own produce for food and juicing. Rawepicurean.net Oct. 20, 2008

Her first job after college was working retail management at Macy’s in Herald Square in New York City. Soon afterwards, she moved to London, England for a year and a half, then to Sydney, Australia for 7 months. Upon her return back to upstate New York, she studied post-graduate social psychology, computer art, and fine art, which launched her career in multimedia. She produced live multimedia and internet event through the 1990s.

Today, Phyo lives in Los Angeles, California with her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kanga.

Phyo attended Ewha and Yonsei Universities and studied international business, graduating in 1987 and 1989, respectively. She then graduated from Cornell University with a dual bachelor's in human ecology design and business management in 1990. She then did some post-graduate work in social psychology, 3-D modeling and simulation, computer art, fine art and sculpting at SUNY Buffalo, finishing in 1994.

SmartMonkey Foods was co-founded by Ani Phyo in 1999 in Los Angeles, California. SMF started as a catering and events company, hosting gourmet raw food dinners in Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Pasadena, California and later introduced a line of packed dressings, sauces, cheeses, pizza crust and desserts.

The company moved to Portland, Oregon for 4 years from 2003 to 2006, and then to San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Phyo founded a multimedia company called SmartMonkey Media, which produced live multimedia events, including the world’s first online fashion show, "Fiber," in 1994.

Phyo was a part of San Francisco digital lab, Cyberlab 7, and founder of Dimension 7, where she handled CG work on Virtuosity. Phyo’s produced numerous websites, including a 14,000 page rich-media educational site for Simon and Schuster in 1996.

Her book Return on Design was an educational book on user-centered interaction design for the Web and wireless technologies which came out of the design and media classes she taught at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University.

Phyo recently appeared on the “Bizarre Foods LA” episode which aired on The Travel Channel, October 14, 2008. The Travel Channel - Bizarre Foods LA Oct. 14, 2008 as well as on Channel 7 - The View from the Bay in November 2007. Channel 7 - The View From the Bay Phyo is also on various online networks including the VCN, produced by Breakdown Services and the Hollywood Reporter, VCN - Breakdown Services and the Hollywood Reporter and on VegNews.com.

Publications

• Return on Design
• Return on Design: Smarter Web Design That Works, published by NewRiders.
• Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen: Easy, Delectable Living Food Recipes published by Marlowe & Company,
• Ani’s Raw Food Desserts. (due out May 9,)