Kathmandu, Nepal, Aug. 25, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Master Jiumei, founder of the U.S.-based InLight International and InLight Foundation, is expanding her work in inner development and spiritual education into Nepal, seeking to connect practices of human inner growth with education, healthcare and philanthropic service.
August 2026, Jiumei led an international InLight delegation to Nepal.
The group visited Arya Tara School, founded by internationally renowned Nepali Buddhist nun and chant artist Ani Choying Drolma, as well as a dialysis center in Kathmandu supported by the Aarogya Foundation, another organization founded by Choying Drolma.
The Nepal visit represents another step in Jiumei's evolution from China's business and media world toward a broader mission centered on inner development, spiritual education and humanitarian service.
From Business and Media to Inner Growth
Jiumei,born Zhang Xiaomei, first became widely known for her achievements in China's business, fashion and media industries.
According to a 2025 profile published by The Beverly Arts, she was an entrepreneur,bestselling author and media founder who played a prominent role in China's fashion and beauty industries. The profile noted that she founded publications including China Beauty Fashion News and New Human, organized China International Beauty and Fashion Week, and authored dozens of books for women.
Her career later took a dramatically different direction, transforming her from a successful business and media figure into a prominent advocate for inner development and spiritual growth.
According to the same profile, Jiumei studied and practiced traditions including Taoism, Buddhism and ancient yoga, and traveled extensively in her search for deeper meditation and spiritual understanding. In 2016, she entered the Karme Ling Retreat Center in the United States, where she undertook an intensive retreat lasting nearly four years.
Over time, the center of gravity of her life shifted toward meditation, self-awareness and inner development. Following a profound period of personal insight and spiritual awakening, she committed herself to education and service aimed at helping others explore their own inner potential.
From Spiritual Awakening to Building InLight in the United States
In 2022, Jiumei founded InLight International.According to publicly available profiles and institutional information, the organization has expanded its programs across the United States, Canada and other countries.
In the United States, InLight has established international retreat and meditation centers in Mount Shasta and Silicon Valley, California, while developing a contemplative center in Crestone, Colorado, a location known for its spiritual and retreat communities.
Today, InLight has developed into an influential Asian American-founded organization focused on inner development, spiritual education and public service. Its work has received recognition and commendations from government authorities in California and the City of San Francisco.
InLight's publicly listed programs include meditation, mindfulness, yoga,breathwork, dynamic meditation, silent retreats, deep introspection, fasting retreats, extended periods of darkness retreat, leadership training, youth programs, and practices involving tea and incense. The organization also conducts meditation programs, spiritual journeys, retreats and charitable initiatives across multiple U.S. states and internationally.
Jiumei has also appeared at professional and educational forums in the United States and has been invited to speak at leading universities, including Harvard, Stanford,Yale, Princeton, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley, USC and California Institute of Technology, where she has explored questions surrounding human development and inner growth.A number of research and collaborative initiatives are also reportedly underway.
In May 2025, Jiumei was invited to speak at TEDxCSTU, an event organized in Silicon Valley with a focus on the relationship between human intelligence and human development.
Technology and human development have since become important themes in her work. Her educational philosophy emphasizes meditation, self-awareness and emotional balance as practical tools that can be integrated into modern everyday life.
In June 2025, Jiumei was invited to participate in a TED event of international reach, where she reflected on the lessons she drew from two life-and-death experiences. She presented the idea that "peace is the best state of life," offering a perspective on human fulfillment that moves beyond an achievement-centered definition of success and instead emphasizes inner growth, selfawakening and, ultimately, the transformation of inner development into service to others.
From Inner Growth to Social Action
In Nepal, InLight has extended its focus on inner development into a more tangible sphere of social engagement.
In July, Jiumei led nearly 20 core members of the InLight international community from the United States, China, Canada and other countries to Arya Tara School, founded in 2000 by Ani Choying Drolma.
The delegation engaged with Choying Drolma, teachers and students through discussions and cultural activities, including conversations on women's issues and Buddhist chanting. Members of the InLight delegation learned about the history and mission of the school and visited its community classrooms.
The experience deeply affected the group. For the InLight delegation, the visit underscored a central principle: inner awakening cannot be limited to achieving personal peace. The circumstances in which women live are an important measure of social wellbeing.When poverty, family circumstances or other hardships deprive women of meaningful choices and opportunities, genuine social well-being remains incomplete.
For InLight, compassion therefore needs to move beyond an internal state of mind and become practical support for vulnerable women and children. In this sense, the visit represented a concrete expression of the organization's broader philosophy of creating a better world from the inside out.
Members of the InLight delegation also contributed approximately 700,000 Nepalese rupees to support the school's educational and charitable activities.
The visit brought together two women whose backgrounds could hardly be more different, yet whose life journeys have increasingly converged around questions of human development, compassion and service.
Ani Choying Drolma and Her Work in Nepal
Ani Choying Drolma entered monastic life in Nepal at the age of 13 and later achieved international recognition for her Buddhist chanting and musical work.
Her artistic career eventually became a platform for social engagement,particularly in education and healthcare.
Arya Tara School is one of her principal educational initiatives. The school combines modern academic education with Buddhist studies and provides educational opportunities for children of single mothers as well as young Buddhist nuns.
In 2010, Choying Drolma also founded the Aarogya Foundation, which focuses on kidney healthcare, including dialysis and other forms of renal treatment.
On August 16, Master Jiumei and members of the InLight team visited a dialysis center supported by the Aarogya Foundation at Chhetrapati Community Hospital in Kathmandu.
During the visit, Jiumei spoke with medical staff about the operation of the dialysis center and the circumstances of patients receiving treatment. She also personally visited patients at their bedsides, listened attentively to their experiences with illness and treatment, held their hands and offered words of encouragement and support.
Jiumei and the InLight team also made financial and clothing donations to support the patients and the medical center.
Following the visit, Jiumei and Choying Drolma held in-depth discussions on Nepal's public healthcare system, women's health and ways of supporting vulnerable communities.
InLight's Broader Engagement in Nepal
The August visits were part of InLight's broader engagement with Nepal.
According to InLight, the organization and its supporters have provided financial assistance to a range of educational and charitable initiatives in Nepal, including Lumbini Buddhist University, the Lumbini World Peace Pagoda,Arya Tara School, monastic schools,preschools serving children from disadvantaged communities, Buddhist Sangha communities and programs supporting children in impoverished mountainous areas.
InLight estimates that the cumulative value of this support has exceeded 48 million Nepalese rupees. The figure represents an accumulated level of support provided over an extended period to various charitable and educational initiatives in Nepal.
For Jiumei, however, the significance of coming to Nepal extends beyond charitable giving.
As the birthplace of the Buddha,Nepal offers a unique setting for exploring the relationship between inner balance, compassion, Buddhist wisdom and human development.
Jiumei has brought entrepreneurs, financial professionals, scientists, technology specialists, educators and artists from different countries to Nepal, encouraging them to experience the country's social environment, cultural heritage, Buddhist traditions and distinctive approach to well-being, while reflecting on broader questions concerning modern life and human flourishing.
From Inner Fulfillment to Social Impact
Jiumei and Ani Choying Drolma represent two very different paths through life.
Jiumei emerged from the worlds of business, fashion and media before turning toward meditation, inner development and spiritual education. Choying Drolma emerged from the Himalayan Buddhist tradition and transformed an internationally recognized artistic career into a platform for education, healthcare and humanitarian service.
One moved from professional success toward inner exploration and ultimately toward service to human well-being. The other moved from monastic practice toward a life of social engagement and philanthropy.
Their meeting in Nepal brings these two trajectories together around a practical question:
How can inner growth make a lasting and meaningful contribution to the well-being of others?
For Jiumei, meditation and personal development are not intended to separate people from society. Rather, they are meant to help individuals become more aware,balanced and responsible participants in the world, while cultivating what she regards as the highest qualities of human compassion and wisdom.
Nepal has given this philosophy a concrete social dimension: education, healthcare, care for vulnerable communities, responses to present-day challenges and long-term investment in human development. In this framework, compassion and wisdom are not merely ideals; they can be translated into measurable,practical action.
As artificial intelligence and other technologies rapidly reshape society and everyday life, Jiumei argues that technological and scientific progress must be accompanied by greater attention to human well-being and the development of the inner life.
That perspective is reflected in the arc of her own journey - from China's business and media industries, to a new chapter of inner development in the United States, and now to humanitarian engagement and service in Nepal and beyond.
Her work reflects a broader proposition: the future of human development may depend not only on how rapidly technology advances,but also on how deeply humanity learns to understand itself.
About InLight Foundation
InLight Foundation is a formally registered non-profit organization in the United States, founded by Teacher Jiumei and currently operated entirely by volunteers. Its aim is to help more modern urban dwellers experience the charm of meditation, improve their quality of life, and gain joy of mind and body.
Lu Wang contactus.inlight@gmail.com
