Our Story

What does your imagination look like? 

Our imagination began dreaming up Blue Elephant Books in the kitchen. Dorothea DePrisco Wang was a children’s book Publisher and her husband Bryan Wang was a chef. Although they enjoyed their careers, they knew one day they’d take the big leap and venture out on their own.Dorothea said to Bryan “You go first!”, encouraging him to leave The Belvedere Kitchen at The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, California to start Chefs On the Fly, Inc., a personal and private chef service. Three years later, Bryan said, “Your turn!” encouraging Dorothea to do the same. In 2006, they founded Blue Elephant Books, Inc. 

Long before BEB was started, Dorothea, a native New Yorker, worked at Scholastic Inc. for nearly eight years in marketing and editorial. After resigning from Scholastic in 1999, she wanted to broaden her knowledge of children’s books. So, she accepted a position to teach high school on the island of Lanai in Hawaii. While on Lanai, Dorothea started a program for teens to prep for job interviews and facilitated a children’s publishing book donation program for the Lanai School System; she also managed the island’s local radio station. It was on the small island of Lanai where she met Bryan. He was working at The Manele Bay Hotel as a sous chef. 

In 2001, Dorothea and Bryan moved to Los Angeles. While Bryan worked in Beverly Hills, Dorothea took the position of Executive Vice President and Publisher of Intervisual Books, Inc., the company famous for its invention of the Pop-Up Book. During her five years at Intervisual, Dorothea created and executed approximately 300 titles and managed the creative packaging side of the Intervisual business. Over the course of two years, she created a handful of titles that grossed 8 million dollars in revenue. But more importantly, working for a group of venture capitalists was the last step in understanding how a business should be managed. She learned how the strength of the creative and the focus on the creative could result in positive results for the rest of the company.  

While Dorothea was working at Intervisual Books, Bryan was working as a chef at The Peninsula Hotel working under executive chef, Bill Braken. Bryan started out his career cooking traditional Italian (Sicilian) cuisine taught by a relentless and tireless chef, Leo Fascianellla at Pasta Amore in Omaha, Nebraska. Chef Leo was key in pushing Bryan to apply to the prestigious CIA, Culinary Institute of America.

Bryan received his degree with honors from the CIA and went on to master French cuisine working at The Refectory in Columbus, Ohio. Following that experience, he went on to become proficient in Southwestern food at the renown Wigwam Resort in Arizona and studied his now specialties, French-Mediterranean and Pacific Rim at the Ihalani and Hulop’e Restaurants at the Manele Bay Resort in Lanai, Hawaii.  

Seems like entrepreneurial spirits flock together. Filled with flavorful recipes and colorful children’s books, the Wang household percolates with creativity. However, it isn’t without sacrifice that the couple keep both start-ups afloat and growing. Staying firm to owning and running these creative companies themselves, Bryan and Dorothea know that there’s no real security in the world. So the couple believes in enjoying the experience, working with individuals who reciprocate their dedication to excellence and their love of bringing imagination to life.