Patricia Owen completed a master's degree in the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the University of East Anglia in 2005. She took a lead role in the New Westminster Museum and Archives' project to research the city's Chinese-Canadian community. Since then she has held research and curatorial positions at the UBC Museum of Anthropology, the Surrey Art Gallery, and the Vancouver Maritime Museum. She is currently a project manager at 3DS - Three Dimensional Services, in Burnaby, BC.