She received her Ph.D. from Cornell University and was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University. As a gender studies scholar and mother, Setsu was concerned with today’s overwhelming princess culture and how it is marketed to children. Given the powerful appeal of the ‘princess’ and how much it was influencing her own daughter, she decided to alter the social meaning of the princess by writing Princess Terra for her daughter’s fifth birthday. Princess Terra recasts the princess as a protector and leader who works with others to stop conflict through non-violence.