Verizon HQ Talk: Think Bold, Act Bold, Be Bold

Verizon invited me to their headquarters to speak to employees, upper management, and their diversity initiatives for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month -- in celebration of this year's theme, "Think Bold, Act Bold, Be Bold." 

In this conversation, I talk about:

-- The importance of having diversity on your team, for the input and the output
-- The story of my parents escaping Vietnam as refugees, coming to the U.S., and building a life in Boston
-- My early experiences realizing race, being an "outsider," cultural shame, and "Pajama Day"
-- The turning point when I started to embrace my culture: activism, political awareness, and self-empowerment
-- Internal work + external work go hand in hand
-- Navigating different values and expectations in both the American context and Vietnamese/Asian context; ie. leadership
-- The importance of shifting culture, rather than just adapting or ditching in the bicultural context
-- My advice for those seeking to be bold: practice consciousness
-- How I transitioned from poetry to films
-- The relationship with my parents as I pursue a creative career 

I had a blast. Let me know what you think below. Thanks for watching! xo

Announcement: Part of Google NextGen Leaders Program 2018

I'm stoked to announce that I was nominated (without knowing!) and selected to join the 2018 class of Google NextGen Tech Policy Leaders Program, where I'll be joining nearly 100 leaders around the country to explore creative solutions at the intersection of racial justice and tech policy. 

I spent 3 days at the kick-off Summit in Google's Silicon Valley, where I immersed myself in workshops, presentations, and conversations on everything from net neutrality, to future work, to economic inequality through/within tech. For the next year, I'll be spending a few hours every month with my cohort to study the field, and develop solutions.

As a creative through and out, it feels empowering to dive into a world I know so little about, and to enter 2018 with an open mind for learning things outside of my comfort zone. 

If you want to work together in 2018, send me a message!

Read my 4 page feature in NYLON Magazine's August 2017 issue

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Click images to read feature.

I never thought I'd see myself in a national print magazine, let alone a 4 page spread! Still in a bit of disbelief. Feeling very grateful for the opportunity to share my voice, story, and perspective with the NYLON platform. It's my first national print feature! 

I remember reading teen / fashion mags growing up and thinking, would be kind of cool to see myself in here. then I thought, but I'm not white, not rich, not a tall skinny model, and I'm not passionate about make-up/fashion/celebrity lifestyles (all things that seemed to dominate the pages). When the age of social media "influencer" blew up, I thought, would be kind of cool to get free stuff and have people pay attention to you. But then I thought, you don't have enough Instagram followers because you don't post enough pics and you simply don't have the patience to curate a "proper" social media strategy. Moral of the story here (for myself) is don't worry about the external, worry about the internal. continue working on yourself, your mind, your heart, your hustle -- put it out into the world, and those who take notice will take notice. Don't change who you are to fit the mold. because i'm in NYLON talking about Asian American history, activism, Vietnam War, immigrant hustle, and more. do you, boo. ✨  Major thanks to the talented team of women I had the honor of working with @atoosamoinzadeh @gibaela, thank you Nylon Magzine for giving my voice a platform

Find my friends + faves mentioned in the feature -- of course I had to take the opportunity to share the shine with my incredible community of change makers, culture shifters, entrepreneurs, and mentors: The Starliner, The Flavr Blue/Hollis Audrey, Still Mind Collective/Jarell Perry, Johnny Dep (Danny Bridge Jen Sar, they edited your names out, sorry!), Lucy's Vietnamese Kitchen, Jeff Chang, Beau Sia, Monica Sok, Mixtape Coffee, UCLA Asian American Studies Department, Artists For Humanity, (Jason Talbot, Rob Gibbs, Richard Frank), NBC Asian America, Coalition for APA Youth (Peter Kiang, Tri Quach, AASO - UMass Boston).

Interview: "SAHRA NGUYEN TALKS "DEPORTED", CIVIL RIGHTS, & THE POWER OF ONE VOICE"

An in-depth interview with Emma Banks from Milk Media about my creative process and thoughts on art, activism, stereotypes in the media, and brilliance of Asian American leaders in today's civil rights and immigration movements. Click here to read.