The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – The Zodiac Guardians: Annabelle’s Enchanted Adventures by Zhaoqian (Anna) Zeng

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

The Zodiac Guardians: Annabelle’s Enchanted Adventures by Zhaoqian (Anna) Zeng https://www.amazon.com/dp/1964644313 Instagram.com Best friends Annabelle and Olivia are thrust into a cosmic quest when Annabelle’s parents mysteriously vanish—only to be contacted by a secret alien force with one condition for their return: recover the 12 missing spirit eggs, hidden across magical Zodiac Worlds. Each world, ruled by a different zodiac animal, presents vibrant landscapes, quirky characters, and unique challenges. From helping a timid mouse reclaim a stolen diamond to guiding a lost cow home, the girls must rely on their differences to uncover clues and unlock the eggs’ powers. But this journey is more than a rescue mission. As they grow through trials, forge friendships, and face their fears, Annabelle and Olivia discover they may be destined for something greater: to become the next Zodiac Guardians. A heartwarming adventure full of wonder, courage, and the magic of true friendship. When the universe calls, will you rise to the challenge—or run from your destiny? About the author Zhaoqian Zeng, professionally known as Anna Zeng, is a unique blend of expertise in procurement, a passion for creative writing, and an entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout her journey, Anna thrived in diverse fields, balancing her professional career with her deep love for storytelling. Raised in China and later embracing American society as an adult, Anna brings a rich cultural perspective to everything she does, infusing her work with both tradition and innovation. From a young age, Anna was captivated by the power of words. She began writing small stories about the friendships of high school girls, quickly gaining encouragement from her friends. But it was after the arrival of her daughter that Anna’s creative spark truly ignited. As she watched her little girl dream vivid, colorful dreams, Anna was reminded of the excitement she felt reading Harry Potter as a teenager. She believes wholeheartedly that a good book can uplift spirits, teach valuable lessons, and inspire positive change in the world. Anna’s debut novel is a reflection of her personal journey—blending her imagination, the joy of motherhood, and her drive to pass on meaningful values to her daughter. With a heart full of passion and a mind shaped by Chinese roots and American experiences, Anna’s writing celebrates dreams, creativity, and the power of storytelling. The most important value Anna hopes her characters share is the power of women’s empowerment and collaboration. Through their journeys, she aims to inspire readers to believe in their strength, the importance of working together, and the incredible things that can happen when we lift each other up.

You wanted the best... You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show, the preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready, get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.

Because you're about to go on a monster education role. rollercoaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks, Voss here from the Chris Voss Show.com. There you go, ladies, you know, and there only seems that makes official welcome to big show. As always, for over 17 years, we've bringing the Chris Voss show, the oldest living podcast that still broadcasts one to two new shows a day. No one, even the newer shows don't do the volume that we do.

45 shows a month. Refer the show of your family, friends, relatives. go to Facebook.com, YouTube.com, and LinkedIn.com for just Chris Foss, one word. Opinions expressed by guests on the podcast are solely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the host or the Chris Foss show. Some guests of the show may be advertising on the podcast, but it's not endorsement or review of any kind. Today, amazing young lady on the show, we're talking about her book called The Zodiac Guardians, Annabelle's Enchanted Adventures by Anna Zeng. We're going to talk to her about her insights, what she's up to and what this new book series will hold as it comes forward.

in the future. She is an international best-selling author, higher education, professional, and team leader, entrepreneur, women's empowerment speaker, and mother whose journey bridges cultures, careers, and creativity. Originally from China and now based in the U.S., she's built a life around adapting to change and stepping into new and sometimes uncomfortable spaces. In her career in high education, she leads and supports teams while navigating the everyday challenges of communication, collaboration, and decision-making, alongside her professional life, becoming a mother, opening another chapter that eventually inspired her to become an author and transform her experiences, cultural heritage, and lessons about growing up into stories

for the next generation. Welcome to the show, Anna. How are you? Hi, I'm good. How are you doing? Thank you for having me here. Thank you for coming. We certainly appreciate it. Give us your dot-com's websites or social media, wherever you want people to get to know you better. Yeah, sure. So right now, I'm actually still building my website for my book and the upcoming Zodiac Guardian series, which I'm really excited about. In the meantime, you can find me on LinkedIn. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook at Write Your Dream underscore Anna Zen. And if you would like to connect with that directly, especially for the book events, collaborations, or created opportunities, you can always email me at anna.com.com. There you go. So give us a 30,000 overview of this new book and what's inside. Yeah, sure, absolutely. So the Zodiac Guardians and about the enchanted adventure follows two best friends and their journey through the 12 magical Zodian worlds. In each world, they meet the different Zodian animals and help them to realize dreams, pursue their purpose or overcome fears.

And every world brings an unexpected adventure and usually a fun little twist. It's hard, though the story is really about friendship, confidence, and growth. A big reason that I created books was my daughter, Cora. I didn't want to write a book that simply just tell the children, be kind, be brave, or do the right thing. So kids are much more interesting than that. They ask questions, they challenge our thoughts, and sometimes the answers completely surprise us. So I want to create stories that give the children and parents something fun to talk about together. For example, what do you think of that character doing?

Why would you think they make the decision? We will make the same decision or we will do it differently. So that doesn't always be to be one perfect answer. Yeah, yeah. Not one perfect answer. Now, is this children's book? Is it targeted to a certain age group? Yeah, it is a children's book.

So it targets around the age at 8 to 15. Yeah. All right. There you go. And so you, did you ever write books before? What made you this, made this your first outing? Yeah. I've always enjoyed writing.

I wrote the short stories when I was at a very young age, like eight years old or nine years old. And then I share my stories with my friends at school. They really love it. That's kind of a surprise me. I think, oh, maybe I can become a real writer someday. And yeah, the real event that triggered me to become a real other is my birth of the, my girl, my daughter, Coram. And she has so many creative ideas and so many different questions. So I think through the book journeys, I can have a more fun discussion with her in the future.

So talk about the characters, talk about the cultures, and talk about the differences and conflicts in the different characters. So that's kind of a way. I want her to learn the confidence and the good values and how to grow by herself. There you go. And books and reading is a great way to do that. Education, of course. And in books, you know, stories like yours, novels, they can experience life lessons, right? Yeah, definitely.

And so is Annabelle the main character, the protagonist in the book? Yeah. Actually, there will be two main characters. The reason why I use Annabelle as the main character is because everything is surrounded by her. The story is happening around her. Annabelle and Olivia will be the main characters. They're the best friends since the childhood. And then there was one day Annabelle's parents just vanished for no reason.

And it's really, really nervous about it and want to help Annabelle to get her parents back. That's why they go through a different Zodian animal world and to find out what's happening and how they can get it back. That's got to be a fun adventure. And so they kind of go through, is it kind of like a skyfight tale where the Zodiac Guardians? Can you tell us a little bit more about how that works? Yeah, definitely. And maybe some of the powers they get into, include. Actually, they have no idea what they will encounter in a different world.

It's kind of like they opened a door. There were 12 mystery doors in front of them. They just open one by one. And then when it dive into that world, some animals just showed up. and they have no idea how to help them or what they want them to do. But after certain times of the getting together and then to talk about the issues, Annabelle and Olivia will offer their help. And eventually, there are some good tips for them to lead them to the destination,

how they get the parents back. And it's kind of very magical, and each story has their own advantage, own adventure and also opportunities. And also you can see there are some strongest of the strengths of each of the character and the weak, the fears and the differences. So that's how we think. This is kind of a good mix and you can find a fun twist at the end of every story as well. So, yeah, I think that's really interesting.

Yeah. So you said a twist at the end of every story in the book? Yeah. There you go. Yeah, people like twist because they don't see it coming a lot of times. Yeah. And so with this, the Zodiac Guardians, the, you have a, this is going to become a future, series where you'll have doing a number of things. Tell us more about that. Yeah, I'm already starting

my second book of the Zodiac Guardians. I'm still thinking about what is the best theme for this, the second series. Eventually, I want to make this into an animation. That would be a more further goal for me, but currently I want to focus on the book creating. Yeah. There you go. Well, that would be good, animated series. Maybe you can make an ice capades eventually. I think that's where they all end up with children's movies and books and stuff. Yeah, that would be great, yeah, if that happens.

They always seem to end up on the ice capades. So there you go. That's how you know when you finally arrived, I guess, something like that. Yeah. So what inspired you when you were young and you started writing for your friends and stuff? Was there an inspiration? Were there topics or books or book author? that you're reading that you really enjoyed?

Yeah. I remember that when I was very young, I started reading Harry Potter. So that's a series of love, very famous. And at that time, I just enjoying the friendship between the three characters. Yeah. And I just kind of like, feel they're different, but they can hand out together. So that's kind of made me wondering how they can be friends, because they're so different. And then I build aside, as I have the fun times with my friends and also.

to absorb the kind of the differences and conferences from the book. I build them all into my words. I write it down and I'm too twisted to make it fun. And it's kind of like a reflection of how we hang out with our friends and how we think or see in the world. Yeah. That's kind of like my inspiration. Yeah.

Yeah. There you go. And giving good values to children, teaching values, you know. And what do you think it's so important that parents read with their children and make time for that? as opposed to just throwing a phone in front of their face. Yeah, definitely. My kid is still very young.

She's four years old. So it's at a stage of food of curiosity and want to try everything. But as a parent, you always want to keep them in a safe area. And then you play freely within the area. So reading book is kind of like a good communication way with your kid. You can understand their thoughts. And then also you can tell them a story and let them to understand what is, what you are talking about.

For example, if you like, oh, you need to do it in this way, not that way. If you explain to them, they're too young to understand what that means. But if they have interest in certain characters, they want to learn about their behaviors. They want to know more about the logics behind the behavior. And then they will have a conversation with the parents like me.

She will ask a million questions, why should do that? And what's the animal that best describe me? Something fun is that. So that's why I really enjoy. writing the books and reading to the young kids. Yeah, I mean, the imagination that young kids have is just so amazing, right? Yeah. I mean, they have an imagination that is incredible and wonderful and just seeing them light up when they read

or when they ask questions about books, you know, and it similes their mind, you know. Mommy, why did they do that, you know, and they'll interject and, you know, my mom read to us as kids when we were in the womb and read to us after. And look how well I turned out. Well, okay, maybe I'm a bad example. Yeah, that's fine. But no, it's such a growth thing to them. And it's how they learn.

I mean, that's why they watch the same movies or read the same books over and over again. They're trying to master, you know, those social abilities that are put forth. So there you go. Yeah. And they have good character also set a good mom. model for them, example for them. So they will learn the good things from their characters. And that avoid the risks and the potential bad behaviors if they understand better of the background.

Yeah. And also, I think that's another reason why I want to write a book is because I want to find a channel, a platform to communicate my culture, the Chinese culture to more audience. There is a lot of good grief in the Chinese culture, but I have no way to tell my friends. because everyone is living in the United States or European, they may not have the chance to have more interaction with the Chinese people or very deep dive in the Chinese culture. So actually, this book was inspired by the 12 zodiac animals represent the 12 years as a cycle.

So it's kind of a very meaningful for me. Is that like the, I think like the year of the rat and the year of the stuff and all that? I used to always see that change over every, There was a great Chinese restaurant I used to go to. And they would always say, oh, it's the year of the other one. I'm like, I think I'm born in the year of the rat or something. Oh, yeah.

My month year is in the, you know, I know. You can check the calendar. Yeah, you can check the calendar. I'm going to just change my birthday. I think that's what I'll do. But no, that's interesting. So did you, you grew up in China. Is that correct?

I born and raised in Guangzhou, China. That's a southern city, very next to Hong Kong. actually it's very interesting. What I talk about, the conflicts and differences, because I feel like I grew up in a very traditional environment, but I learned a lot of different kind of the knowledge or cultural background from my boarding school. So it's kind of like a mix for me, yeah. Yeah.

Now, there's with Chinese culture, my understanding is there's really old ancient Chinese culture, and there's kind of a new revision of Chinese culture that it's kind of placed by the current regime. Um, how does that play out for you with Chinese culture? Do you, I don't know if some people say there's, you know, the old original Chinese culture is the true culture. I don't know. I'm not, I don't know enough to know about this. I'm just kicking the can around. I always believe that saying like the only thing not changing is the change.

So, uh, the Asian culture, uh, the Chinese traditional one is exactly the one we learn from the books. But as the world changing, you're welcoming world foreigners from all over the world, right? So all those foreigners become the native new Chinese generation. So from that generation, it's already like a cultural mix. So you can learn from each other. So that will be generating the new culture. I think that's a really good thing. We can learn things, hear things in a very different perspective,

and to understand the situation in different ways. this is kind of like be more international. So I like that. Oh, there you go. Be more international. Yeah. The, yeah, there was a dance troupe we had on that they tour all over America

in the world, I think. And they were claiming that, you know, they represent original Chinese culture or ancient Chinese culture and not the current one. And they get quite a lot of hate and hell from the Chinese administration because they

for some reason there's some aspects of it that they don't I don't know they're embarrassed by or something so I thought it's kind of interesting because I don't know Chinese culture I don't know a lot about China really so I'm always just kind of curious to different people's thoughts on it but

you know I like how you preserve that and so people that understand that or come from the background they can understand it as well maybe it'll be big in China. Is it available for sale in China? Maybe, yeah. I don't even know if you can do that. I don't think you can do that through Amazon, right? In certain area maybe. I'm not sure. Yeah. Were you in the Hong Kong province that was still free, maybe back then? It's still independent, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's quite sad, I think,

when I've seen Hong Kong. But you will be surprised because not every Hong Kong is, they can speak very fluent Mandarin. Oh, really? I expect that. Yeah. Did that news not be the case? Yeah, only than you're still the same Cantonese. Yeah. Yeah. So when did you come to America?

I think almost 10 years ago, yeah, when I first came here to have pursued my, for the graduate study of the MBA, focused on the supply chain management in Bay Area, San Francisco. Yeah. That's why I continue my. procurement journey with the higher education in that area. Yeah. Was it tough to get out of China?

Do you, I mean, are there issues there where you wouldn't want to go back? You want to stay in America or what you're feeling right now on the whole world is working? That's a good question. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of weird right now. Yeah, I think when we grow up, we do have a different thought at different stage. When I first came to US, I feel super excited because I can see, the people that my foreign teacher talked about and then the activities I can participate,

that I never had a chance to do that in China. So that part, I'm very excited, especially I can become a more independent woman. You know, in China, our parents are very traditional. They want us to be with them most of the time. So it's really, really hard to be independent. But when I come to U.S., I can feel the freedom. So I think that part will really excite me. And also the continued study in a different way. In US, it's more like the presentation, the group projects, discussion. So that's very hard for me at the beginning.

I'm a very shy person, I can say. I'm not the first one to raise my hand and say, oh, I have this opinion I want to share. I'm definitely not that person. But currently, I feel more easy to communicate and raise my hand if my voice matters. So that's the change. Talking about the differences,

between the people that like me come to US and then people stay in China. I think it's the way how they live their life will be different. Yeah. Yeah. It's, do you think you'd want to go back to China? I mean, they,

I mean, they just prosecuted one of the, I think one of the billionaires, one of the newspaper guys. I think it was a newspaper guy. For just, you know, being critical of the government and doing what the freedom of the press that we have here,

unfortunately, they don't have there. Yeah. So, I don't know. Do you think about returning there? Sometimes you can never go home. I mean, every time I go home, it's never at all like it used to be.

It's definitely a good place to travel, visit, and I don't like to live there too. Don't mistake me. I feel like the freedom I'm talking about. It's not like you can say everything. I'm not talking about that. It's like you can make the decision by your own terms. So I think that's also happening in China as well. The new generation is very independent and they have their own thoughts and not shy to raise their hands.

I don't think I agree with you. They always say that now. So I think everything is changing now. I think China is still very promising. And I really want to see more changes. The promising changes to my country, to my cities. I really want to make some positive impact there too. So I'm thinking about if there is some opportunity, like the TED Talk or like any local school book events, I can participate.

That would be really good. Yeah. There you go. There you go. I don't even know how you sell books in China. They have their own internet, so it's kind of... It's hard. I don't know if they have a book selling Amazon or anything like that.

They do, yeah. Oh, do they really? Yeah, they do. But I do need to reprint my book, republish my book in a Chinese style, and with their local publisher. So that would be another way to do it. Oh, okay. You got to use the local publisher there.

Yeah. There you go. Well, very interesting stuff going on with your book, and I believe I guess your daughter really enjoys it. Yeah, first she only attracted to the characters, the cartoons on my book. But currently, she asked me more question like, which animal represents me? Do you think I'm cute, I'm cuter or the character killed her, and what she's doing, what he's doing? Are they friends or not friends?

So all the millions of questions, I feel so fun to play with her. And do you do speaking too? I see some things. Maybe you're out promoting the book, I think. Yeah, but I also, it's also talking about. talking about something very personal. I just very excited to have the opportunity to speak at Harvard University in July. I talk about something very personal.

It's like the quiet confidence. Just like I talk, I'm not the very, how do I say, I'm not the first person to raise my hands to answer questions or ask questions or I'm not the loudest voice in the room. But I feel like there's the common things for our Asian people. We get used to listen and reflect first before we can to contribute our opinions. So that's the topic I'm talking about in the Harvard University. I'm talking about a quiet covenant doesn't mean that you don't understand

or you don't want to raise your hand. It's like the inner power. So you think you listen and then raise your hand when the time is right. There you go. Yeah, silent power. The, you know, sometimes less is more. The less you say, the more, you know, people are left to think about stuff. I don't know.

So this should be pretty exciting. And do you have any anticipation on the release date of the future books? Currently, I'm still working on the writing part. But I do update my process and recent interaction with my young readers in my social media. Like I said, Instagram and Facebook. So you can always check my updates from there. And also, I think my previous public speaking video will go in live soon. So I will share that on my social media as well.

It will be a stream. It will be a podcast on YouTube, local TV or Amazon Fire TV, etc. So I will share more later. Yeah. There you go. Now, writing your first book, help other writers or maybe aspiring writers out there with some ideas. What sort of techniques do you use to write, address writers block, to be consistent? How do you go about that?

Yeah. Actually, that's a good question. I always say that being an order is a very, very lonely journey. Especially when you have a little one, you have your family stuff. I'm still working professional. So there's a lot of things happening at one time. You cannot do everything so perfect at one time. So I would just say pick up your pen, write down everything in your mind,

and just to polish them later, just to write down everything you can think about at that moment, like bullet points or some colors. you think that would fit your book cover or maybe the character you think, oh, that's interesting. Maybe I can put it in my stories. Just draw down everything you can think of and you can see. So that's the first step. I think the second one will be the open-minded. So definitely you cannot make everything perfect at the first step.

Just talk to the people in the same industry who are just starting to be in order or who already in this industry for a long time to ask for their opinions, ask for help. Don't be shy, yeah, just to ask more information. And then, yeah, also participate in the local book events, no matter whether you're already are ordered or just like good readers, book clubs, everything that can help you grow. That's really wonderful advice. That's great. You know, you want to powwow with people, especially maybe get a mentor as a successful author, maybe if you can.

I know we've had a lot of authors that are on the show. They do kind of like mentorship through YouTube videos, and they just openly talk. about their things. Some people do private coaching and stuff like that. So yeah, it's it's hard to stay consistent when you have a busy life. And I imagine a small child who's, you know, got all the energy where they're waking up early in the morning, want to stay up late and you're trying to find, you know, the hour a day to maybe write or something. That could be a real challenge to taking a lot. Yeah. All the time are very touring into pieces. So you still need to be very confirmed, consistent. And you need to talk to yourself from time to time,

I can do it. And then I definitely would do it. Yeah. Tared up into pieces. I mean, sometimes the editing, that's about where you reach that point where you're just sick of it.

You're just like, I want to throw all this out the window. And because editing is too fun. If you've been through it, it's just they take everything you wrote and they just go, well, we threw half that away because it was crap. So now go rewrite that again.

And you're just like, that was, that was blood, sweat and tears. You just threw away. That was a pound of my, So there you know. Same situation with me.

I didn't know that editing process so long and also so boring. Oh, yeah. And then you have a back and forth communication with your editors. That take me almost the same time of my writing, same as my writing time. Yeah. I mean, it's a challenging period. And, you know, usually if they're preserving your voice well, you know, they'll make it work. But, you know, and they kind of know, like, okay, this story doesn't fit or, you know, whatever.

and you kind of have to listen to them and sometimes you argue with them and back and forth or they, you know, I had one, I think delete most of a whole chapter and I was less like, what the hell? I got to go now filling that whole thing and then we had to go and it turns out they didn't really understand, I guess what I was communicating. So I had to communicate it better. But we kept the chapter. It just just as I wasn't communicating well or it wasn't coming across well, whatever I had written. So had to take back to me. Yeah. Yeah, but, you know, in editing, you're going to read that book like 100 times at least.

Oh, wow. Yeah. And you just, you always find stuff too. It's crazy. Like even when you do the audio book, you find stuff. You're like, that doesn't sound right at all when you read out loud. I should have read this book out loud before I published it. But, you know, it is what it is.

You sometimes just put out the assholes and alligators and let people figure it out. I mean, most people operate a fourth grade. English level anyway in this country. They probably don't know the commas in a wrong place. That's so true. Here, I also want to take the change to thank you for my publisher and the editing team. The global book publishing, they help me a lot, especially like Seuss and Ash. They are my publisher, and they're a really good job to explain every step with me and also tell me what their thoughts, the suggestions to get my book better,

especially for my first time order. So that's really helpful. I want to thank them. Nice. So as we go out, get people a final pitch out to pick up your books and everything you need to know. Yeah, sure. You can find my book currently in Amazon and Barnes & Noble and also Kubeau. Do we get the Instagram one, too, in there?

Yeah. Or you can just contact me through the Instagram and Facebook at Write Your Dream underscore Anna Zang. Or you can email me. Anna.sang.book at gmail.com. There you go. Well, thank you very much, Anna, for coming to the show, and thanks for inspiring young people everywhere, and we'll look forward to the future series as it comes out.

Thank you so much. It's really nice talking with you, and I hope to join your podcast in the future as soon. Thank you. Then thank you as well to my audience. Go to goodreads.com, 4S. Chris Foss and all those places we are on the internet. Or are per book where refined books are sold,

The Zodiac Guardians, Anabelle's Enchanted, ventures out now. Thanks for tuning in. Be good to each other. Stay safe. We'll see you guys next. You've been listening to the most amazing, intelligent podcast ever made to improve your brain and your life. Warning. Consuming too much of the Chris Walshow podcast can lead to people thinking you're smarter, younger, and irresistible sexy. Consume in regularly moderated amounts. Consult a doctor for any resulting brain lead.