WITH fire-red hair, purple eyeshadow and pink lipstick, Regina Meachem is a picture of energy and fashion. You would never imagine that this youthful-looking American has three children, two of whom have already graduated from college.

“My son has just graduated from high school and my daughters are 23,” the 52-year-old mom says with a soft smile.

Meachem shared an amazing fate-like story about coming to China’s most populous city, and one of her twin daughters predicted the wonderful journey when she was a little girl.

“She always said she would live in China, but we didn’t know we would end up here,” she says.

Living in Shanghai for four years now, Meachem works as a jewelry designer, and a sense of fashion can be seen from her stylish clothing — a form-fitting black dress with golden decorations and gladiator shoes.

Changing cities, learning a new language and having a charity to devote herself to could be the secret to staying youthful, Meachem says.

She is a volunteer at More Than Aware, a non-profit organization that helps breast cancer victims in Shanghai.

“I think that is an exciting story for people getting together to support women. That is very nice,” she says warmly. “You will meet a lot of people in Shanghai. Some of them will be your friends for a long time even after you leave here.”

Q: Why did you come to Shanghai?

A: It’s because of my husband’s job. He works for an international company, which originally started in the United States. I have three children, two living with us while the other one is in America. My son just graduated from high school in Shanghai last week. The other two are twin girls; one is in America and one is here. One went to Jiao Tong University studying Mandarin.

Q: Do you have any interesting or impressive stories about Shanghai?

A: Yes, I volunteer at More Than Aware and find an interesting race they do in the spring — the family fun run. Suzanne Calton founded More Than Aware to support local women with breast cancer, so that is a really impressive story for me.

Q: How do you spend your weekends in Shanghai?

A: I enjoy going to different restaurants. No matter what you want to eat — Mexican, Chinese or American — you have so many choices.

Q: Do you cook at home?

A: Just a little bit. Shanghai is very convenient, you know.

Q: How do you get the information about the newly opened restaurants?

A: Usually my friends recommend some good restaurants to me, and then you feel more comfortable going there. One of my favorite is Morton’s. You can get beef, shrimp and other varieties of food there.

There are also a lot of places you can go to, like theaters and parks. For example, Century Park (in Pudong) is very nice. They have pedal boats, you can sit in and go across the water, that is a lot of fun. Go to the Pearl TV Tower, that is so beautiful when you go to the top.

And also People’s Square where it is very crowded, but at night, the lights are beautiful. So I tell everyone “You come to Shanghai, you have to see it at night.”

Q: Which part do you think is most beautiful at night?

A: The area near Nanjing Road E. is very good. Xintiandi also has many restaurants and lounges to go to. There’s so much to do in Shanghai. My family came to visit, and there were so many places to take them to.

Q: You have mentioned many places you like, but if you just have to choose one, what will it be?

A: I didn’t go inside Disneyland, but I went to Disney Town. They have shops there and there is a cheesecake factory restaurant which is very nice. The point is you don’t have to pay to go into Disneyland; you can just go straight to Disney Town and visit the restaurants and shops. There is also a theater and you can see the Lion King show.

I also like the area near the Yuyuan Garden, there are many little souvenir shops and that area is in traditional Chinese style. Recently I took my family there, and we took a lot of photos. They were excited because there were many cute souvenirs they could take back to America.

Q: Which road do you like best?

A: Nanjing Road W. There are many different stores. It’s a nice area to take your family and friends to. When you walk there, you feel excited and you can enjoy the nightlife.

Q: How many years have you been as a volunteer?

A: Not long, nearly three years. I think it’s a very nice thing. Shanghai has so many international people, and they come together and help others no matter what nationalities they are.

Q: Are there any elements that make Shanghai special to you?

A: You can meet a lot of people from all over the world here. For example, in my class, there are 15 people; everyone is from a different country and we became friends.

Q: Anything you dislike in Shanghai?

A: Traffic. The traffic is really bad. Sometimes, you will get stuck on the road and wait for a long time, especially in rush hour.

Q: Do you have any suggestions?

A: Maybe you can have something that runs alongside the highway, people can stand on, almost like a Metro. You can just get to Puxi, people get off; then it comes back to Pudong. That would be very nice.

Q: Compared with your country, are there any shortages in Shanghai?

A: It is hard to find the food I eat in America. Of course, Shanghai has many foreign restaurants, I mean like little grocery stores to buy the food. But things seem good because more and more shops are emerging.

Q: Is there some specific thing you can’t buy here?

A: There is a breakfast food called grits. You can boil it in water, it’s almost like rice, but I can’t find it here. Maybe I will try Taobao.

Q: Any impressive memories from your life?

A: I have twin daughters. When one of them was about 7 or 8 years old, she always said: “One day I will live in China; one day I will adopt a Chinese baby, and I will name him Paul.” Now she is living in China, but no baby yet! Maybe when she was a little girl, she saw something on TV, I’m not sure.

Q: So was she one of the reasons for your family to come here?

A: No, my husband worked here and we came here first. At that time she was in college in America. But she was happy when we moved to China. So after she graduated, she came here to study. That was interesting.