Yao Xiao was born in Tianjin, China, in 1990. She is a New York-based illustrator, cartoonist, and writer. She explores the fleeting experience of being a lesbian immigrant in a new nation in her writing. Her work frequently involves straddling and bridging realms, as well as addressing unpleasant memories. Yao's art combines visual images with emotion, experience, and creativity.

Yao Xiao arrived in the United States in 2006 as an exchange student and has been writing about her experience ever since. After receiving a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in 2013, she began depicting her journey through a series of comics. Her work has been featured in Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Mental Floss, National Geographic, Newsweek, TIME Magazine, Vice, and the Wall Street Journal as an artist. From the 20th anniversary of the SXSW Interactive Festival to the grand premiere of pop singer Katy Perry's single Dark Horse, her work has helped people all across the world connect at pivotal occasions.

She presently works from her Upper West Side apartment with her cat, Happy.