Joe Zee
Defending The Woo-Woo by Lindsay Wong
Joe Zee is defending The Woo-Woo by Lindsay Wong on Canada Reads 2019.
An alumnus of New York City's Fashion Institute of Technology, Joe Zee is a resident judge on the television show Stitched in Canada, has appeared on ABC's Good Morning America and their annual Oscars pre-show, NBC's Today, CNN, The Oprah Winfrey Show and was previously the special fashion correspondent for Entertainment Tonight. He's also known for the seven plus years he spent as creative director at Elle magazine. In 2018 he launched the original Netflix documentary series 7 Days Out, as its executive producer, which documents the week leading up to some of the world's biggest events — from the Westminster Dog Show to the Kentucky Derby. In 2015 he published his career memoir, That's What Fashion Is: Lessons and Stories from My Nonstop, Mostly Glamorous Life in Style. Zee recently married his partner, designer Rob Younkers.
Why Joe Zee chose to defend The Woo-Woo
"I feel like I'm going crazy. And sometimes I feel like I am the sanest person in the room. Mental health affects us all and if we don't talk about it, especially in my Asian culture, well, it might just go away. And that, my friends, is the heart of The Woo-Woo.
Lindsay Wong's darkly comedic memoir will break your heart.- Joe Zee
"Lindsay Wong's darkly comedic memoir will break your heart. I lived her words and her shame dealing with her Chinese Canadian family's grapple with mental health, their dark days explained away as a superstition beyond their control."
Read more in Joe Zee's interview with CBC.
More about Joe Zee
More about Canada Reads
Stylist, creative director, and now <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CanadaReads?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CanadaReads</a> panellist! <a href="https://twitter.com/mrjoezee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mrjoezee</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/jnorthcottCBC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jnorthcottCBC</a> about the strategy and passion he'll bring to the table at this year's battle of the books. We reveal the full lineup below. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBCNN?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CBCNN</a> <a href="https://t.co/YZ23LW9JQZ">pic.twitter.com/YZ23LW9JQZ</a>
—@CBCMorningLiveBooks by Joe Zee
The Canada Reads 2019 contenders
- Chuck Comeau, defending Homes by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah and Winnie Yeung
- Lisa Ray, defending Brother by David Chariandy
- Ziya Tong, defending By Chance Alone by Max Eisen
- Yanic Truesdale, defending Suzanne by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, translated by Rhonda Mullins
- Joe Zee, defending The Woo-Woo by Lindsay Wong