Connie Chung's memoirs show the highs and lows of a prestigious journalism career

While writing her memoirs, Connie Chung discovered an unexpected legacy.

Even after her groundbreaking television career – she was the second woman and first Asian to co-anchor a network evening newscast – she wasn't fully convinced how successful she had been, or how much it had meant. “I could never bring myself to call myself successful,” she tells USA TODAY. She imitated male colleagues who puffed themselves up and clumsily declared, “I'm very impressive!”

“How can they say that?” she asked. Even in her book, “Connie,” out Tuesday from Grand Central, she worried about how much credit she could claim.

Then, out of the blue, an email came from a young Asian American woman telling us how she came to be named Connie.

Connie Wang, who sent the email, chose the name herself. When her family emigrated from China, her parents asked Xiaokang to choose an English name. The toddler suggested the names of two friendly faces she had seen on television: Connie or Elmo.

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It was only when she left Minnesota to attend the University of California, Berkeley, with its large Asian student population, that she met other Connie namesakes and realized there was “a sisterhood of Connies.”