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Priscilla Chan, who has long been known as the girlfriend of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, updated her status to the billionaire’s wife on Saturday. Given their nine-year relationship which started when she was a freshman and he a sophomore at Harvard, she has known the man behind the massive social networking site well before he became one of the richest people in the world. The surprise announcement of the couple’s wedding this weekend prompted a closer inspection of the woman who is now effectively one of the first ladies of Silicon Valley . Accomplished in her own right, Chan just recently graduated from the University of California-San Francisco where she was studying to pursue a career as a paediatrician. That milestone helped keep the secrecy of their 100-person wedding, as guests were told that it was her graduation party. On the school’s website, she is quoted as saying she chose to study there because she “was attracted by the faculty’s honesty and warmth and the curriculum’s inter-disciplinary approach. San Francisco ’s quirkiness and diversity sealed the deal.” Academics have always been important to the Massachusetts native, as she graduated from Quincy High School in 2003 as a part of the National Honors Society. From there, she went on to study biology at Harvard, which is where she crossed paths with the future billionaire, and their relationship continued even after he decided to leave school to work on then-titled The Facebook. The campus newspaper The Crimson tells of a time that he made a recruiting trip back to campus and offered her a job “at the Facebook”. “I’d love a job at facebook,” the Daily Mail quoted her as telling him while offering him a Twizzler. As expected, she has adopted the timeline approach to her Facebook profile, and in May 2007 she posted a picture while dressed in her cap and gown at her Harvard graduation standing alongside her hoodie-wearing boyfriend. After college, she moved out to San Jose , California where she worked for a year as a fourth and fifth grade science teacher at The Harker School. She then began her graduate studies at UCSF. Outside of school, Chan updates with pictures of her travels with Mr Zuckerberg - including a trip to China , where she presumably put her Cantonese language skills to good use, and Vietnam . She also announced plans to head to Peru this summer, though she gave no explanation as to what she will be doing there. When it comes to her romantic relationship with Mr Zuckerberg, it seems that she doesn’t let the power go to his head as she is reported to have laid out strict rules that he must obey. In an effort to fight of his inherent workaholic attitude, she demands at least “one date night a week, along with a hundred minutes of alone time, not in his apartment, and definitely not at Facebook.” “Priscilla Chan is moving in this weekend. Now we have 2x everything, so if you need any household appliances, dishes, glasses, etc please come by and take them before we give them away,” he posted at the time. The couple got a dog together, named Beast, and frequently post photos of themselves with their white pup. On the dog’s page, “he” wrote that he lives in Palo Alto “with Mark and Cilla”, revealing that she opts for her nick name when among friends. Giving a bit more of a glimpse into her home life, Chan spelled out a number of her favourite things on her profile, listing cooking, soft things, the Food Network, diet A and W root beer and sun dried tomatoes. “I am a simple creature,” she wrote. When it comes to making large decisions, the couple reportedly approach problems as a team. Her family’s Chinese heritage also prompted Zuckerberg to study Mardarin, and while he apparently didn’t quite take to the language, he knows enough to have conversations with his new bride’s grandmother. Even though she updated her relationship status, she seems to have overlooked her favourite quotations section of her profile. In it, she recalls a day during her teaching career where a student called her “Mrs Chan” while she was still simply dating Zuckerberg.

Meet Zuckerberg's new bride Priscilla Chan