Priscilla Chan, whose transformation into the wife of the world's youngest billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is more remarkable than it may seem, is the child of a Chinese-Vietnamese father who arrived in America with his family in the 70s after spending time in a refugee camp.
Later Dennis Chan, 47, raised enough money to open a Chinese restaurant, where he worked gruelling 18-hour days as he dreamt of his first-born daughter living the American dream.
Priscilla was raised largely by her grandmother as her mother Yvonne also worked long hours at the Taste of Asia in Boston. At the 1,200-pupil state-run Quincy High School in the working-class town of Quincy, near Boston, it quickly became clear that Priscilla was bright - and determined to get on.
"She came up to me during that first year, when she was 13, and said, 'What do I have to do to get into Harvard University?'" the Daily Mail quoted Peter Swanson, 66, her science teacher and tennis coach, as saying.
"I was stunned. In all my years of teaching I have never had a 13-year-old ask a question like that. She knew what she wanted, even back then. I encouraged her to join the tennis team because I knew that Harvard would require her to have a well-rounded resume."
"She was mostly raised by her Chinese grandmother, who spoke no English. She was a very dignified woman who clearly was a huge influence in Priscilla's life. The grandmother was her emotional support. Her parents were working long hours - 18-hour days - at the restaurant."
"Priscilla worked incredibly hard at her studies and graduated top of her class. She gave me a voucher for a free meal at her family's restaurant as a gift."
"It was clear the family came from humble beginnings but were prepared to work around the clock to make something of their new life in America. Priscilla had that drive within her. She did everything she needed to round out her resume and make it attractive to Harvard. And she joined the tennis club - she was not a natural athlete but with hard practice she steadily improved. When she got into Harvard she ran up to me grinning from ear to ear and said, 'See, I told you I would get to Harvard!'" he said.
Swanson visited Priscilla and her new husband at their 3.5-million-pound home in Palo Alto, California, last year.
"Mark was at the kitchen table working on his computer. Priscilla introduced us and he grinned and said, 'Behind every great man there is a great woman'. People are saying how lucky she is to marry him, but he knows he's the lucky one. Priscilla is the ultimate story of the American dream made good. Her parents came to the States with virtually nothing and she has married a self-made billionaire. It doesn't get much better than that," he said.
Priscilla has closely guarded her family's humble roots, releasing only a few titbits through Facebook's PR machine. Her 'official' biography states that after Quincy High, she studied biology at Harvard where she met Zuckerberg as they queued for the toilet at a party in 2003.