Mai Lee Vue was born in Laos. She is a master of kwv txhiaj (pronounced “kew tsee ya”), the sung poetry of the Lao-Hmong, and also performs on the hmoob raj or Hmong flute. Vue learned the flute at age eleven from her mother. Both her grandmother and mother were famous in their village for their excellent voices and songs. Vue is a major figure in the cultural life of the Hmong community in Long Beach. She works with many students in Hmong culture classes at the Homeland Neighborhood Cultural Center, and has received awards from the Public Corporation for the Arts and the Alliance for California Traditional Arts.