Just a Little Buzzed

Life rarely moves in straight lines – sometimes it tilts sideways, breaks apart, and demands to be rebuilt.

In Just a Little Buzzed, Taira Soo offers a raw, unfiltered memoir of reinvention. Growing up as the daughter of Asian immigrants in a Nevada desert town, she learned early the survival strategies of standing out and blending in. Her path carried her through the highs and lows of a dance career, the chaos of music video sets, the gamble of entrepreneurship, and finally, the shattering diagnosis of cancer that forced everything into question.

Told in fragments, and sharp turns, Soo resists the myth of a shiny “new chapter.” Reinvention, she shows, isn’t glamorous – it’s breakdowns, sideways pivots, and false starts that don’t look like progress at all. With humor and unflinching honesty, she writes about identity, resilience, and the ways we reclaim ourselves when life refuses to go to plan.

For readers of personal memoirs, Asian American narratives, and survivor stories, Just a Little Buzzed is an unforgettable testament to nonlinear healing – and the beauty of finding a map in the mess.

Author Biography

Taira Soo is a writer and storyteller whose work explores sideways living, reinvention, and identity. Her debut memoir, Just a Little Buzzed, is a nonlinear account of reclamation and remembering who you are when life doesn’t move in a straight line. With a background in dance and fashion, Soo brings an eye for movement, texture, and voice to the page. She is the founder of split & type, a creative imprint and story studio. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog, Kenzi.