Transcript:
Clara Matonhodze:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to Roots, Routes and Voices that Shape America, a Cincinnati campus podcast. I’m your host and creator of the series, Clara Matonhodze.
Bryan Wright:
And I’m Bryan Wright, executive director of Cincinnati Compass and your co host. Before we dive in, the views and stories shared on this podcast are those of our guests and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cincinnati Compass. We believe every voice has a place, especially when it shapes the future of our cities. Let’s get into it.
Clara Matonhodze:
Let’s get into it. Pau, thank you so much for joining us today for Roots, Routes and Voices. It’s such a pleasure having you.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Thank you for having me.
Bryan Wright:
Thanks for being here.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. So let’s go to the very beginning. Pau, what do you remember? You’re from Vietnam, and I want to talk most about your life there. Well, some of it, actually. What do you remember about Vietnam? What’s a vivid memory that you have before you moved to Ohio?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, I think for me, it’s easy to reflect back now because there’s a big contrast between living here in Vietnam. In Vietnam, life happens outside. So out in the streets, not inside the building. So the moment you wake up, you hear the sound, you smell it, and you visually see life happens outside. It’s not inside. So I think if we reflect on that, that is a memory. Millions of scooters everywhere. Probably a lot of pollution if you ride one.
Clara Matonhodze:
I mean, if there are millions of scooters, I can imagine.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Correct. And you hear sounds, you hear noise. So all of that, that is the moment you wake up until the moment you go to bed, that is life. And it happens all outside.
Bryan Wright:
And thinking about that, you’re always. It’s. It’s always present. And the sounds and the smells in the interaction, like, bumping against people. And do you welcome that, or do you. Or is it a little bit of both? Where are you? Is that where you feel comfortable? Because you’re always interacting with people. There’s. You’re already negotiating spaces, conversations.
Bryan Wright:
Is that comforting for you?
Bao M. Nguyen:
So I remember first arriving here in California, Orange County.
Clara Matonhodze:
And I’m thinking, that’s a swanky county, isn’t it?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. And I’m thinking, where am I? This feels like I’m in the middle of nowhere. Like, am I in farmland? Like, this is like abandoned space because everything is so far apart and you gotta drive 20, 30 minutes to go somewhere, and things are just so far apart. And then moved to Ohio, and then I realized, oh, California has a lot of people, but relatives are back in Ho chi Minh City. 10 million people. So California then just felt like, man, I’m in the middle of nowhere. So that, for me, I think, is the context of the frame of reference. So you’re adjusting to it, but it took me a while to realize this is the normal thing.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. So your vivid memory is lots of people everywhere. When you wake up, the first thing you do is go outside. I can see that. I’m thinking here of my teenage boys. They would not have a memory like that because we’ll be fighting about them going outside. You know, they wake up and immediately they are on their computers or laptops or whatever. And outside is more like, you know, we’ll see outside.
Clara Matonhodze:
I don’t know, once in a while. But yeah, that’s. That’s interesting. I love that. Let’s talk about your coming to America, your family coming to America. What inspired them to come to the U.S. Do you know the story?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I do. I think the journey for them was never set out to be in the US But the Vietnam War started all of it. So I’m not that far removed from the Vietnam War. Both sides of my grandparents. One fought along with the US army, and ultimately he was imprisoned for that. So 12 years. And they call re education camp.
Clara Matonhodze:
12 years in prison. Okay.
Bao M. Nguyen:
By our own, of course, Vietnamese folks, but it was called re Education camp. And ultimately there’s a policy here that says, hey, we want to relocate you. Because I think we did it wrong by the folks that fought along us. And the other grandpa I never met, he left before I was born. So the same was where you got a huge influx of refugees because of the alternative for. For them it wasn’t an option. So they left and many people didn’t make it. I didn’t know that grandpa actually was alive growing up.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I thought he was dead the whole time.
Clara Matonhodze:
Okay, so help me understand this. So you have a grandfather who fought alongside the American military during the Vietnam War. And after it was over, because he was Vietnamese and fought alongside the Americans, they had to be sent to a re-education camp. Like, what was wrong with you? You were fighting with the Americans. You’re fighting with the enemy. And so. Okay, and then the other grandparent, what was that?
Bao M. Nguyen:
He fled just like most for at.
Clara Matonhodze:
The end of the war. Then he fled and came to the.
Bao M. Nguyen:
US I don’t know his journey. Yeah, I think he was stuck somewhere at a refugee camp for a long time. Like I said, the first time I met that grandpa was 2001.
Clara Matonhodze:
Oh.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. So I didn’t know. I never met him growing up.
Clara Matonhodze:
So the whole time you did not know he was a Nazi?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I did not know.
Clara Matonhodze:
Where was he?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Don’t know.
Clara Matonhodze:
He doesn’t talk. He. He didn’t talk about it.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I’m sure we can get behind it. Typically, people fled by foot, by boat, or by plane. I believe he might have walked to the neighboring country because a lot of people flat by sea died. So I think he was trying to do it by foot. And I just don’t know his journey.
Clara Matonhodze:
How he got to us until 2001 when you met him.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Correct.
Clara Matonhodze:
Wow. What. What was that meeting like?
Bao M. Nguyen:
It was weird. It felt like I was meeting a stranger.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, I can imagine.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But he. That. That grandpa. The paperwork came from that grandpa for me to get here. The one I never met, that paperwork came first. Both of them did paperwork for us to come, but the one I never met, that one came first.
Clara Matonhodze:
Amazing. So he’s. Was he already living? So he’s. When he fled, he fled and he came to America and he was living in America the whole time, but you just did not know.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think he was stuck in a refugee camp. The general concept is a lot of Catholic charities, churches, and whatever the city ended up ultimately helping relocate them. And I think that relocation probably happened between early 90s to the late 90s, a majority of that because a lot of them lived in refugee camps somewhere, whether it’s the Philippines. Oh, yeah. Many still lived up until early 2000.
Clara Matonhodze:
Wow. I did not realize that.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then many, sometimes they stay there because they couldn’t get resettled, so they became somewhat resident of that native country that they first got to. So, yeah, not everyone got fully resettled, but that journey, I think took a solid 10, 20 years.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, obviously. Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
So in 2001, when you reconnected with your grandfather, how did that initial connection or reconnection happen? Did he reach out to your mom, to you? How did that happen? How did that happen?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. So both sides of the grandparents knew ultimately once they were here, they wanted to bring the family over. That’s part of what I always remind folks, like, I’m reuniting with family.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. Family reunification.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I grew up in Vietnam, but the journey set out already. And then sooner or later I would be reunited with the family. And that’s the grandparents generation. So both grandparents did paperwork so then they can bring our family over. It just takes longer because it’s not a spouse, it’s not an immediate thing. So it just took a while. So I think the paperwork was already set in place. As I was a kid, I just didn’t know.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I just remember doing an interview at the embassy in Vietnam in 2001. And then I remembered 9, 11, and they said, you should leave. And it was very abrupt because they said, I don’t know if something will happen and they won’t let us in.
Clara Matonhodze:
So you were in Vietnam at that point? Correct.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then boom, we just left. So it was a shock for me even just to say, let’s just leave.
Clara Matonhodze:
Uh huh.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But the journey has already started.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I just didn’t know.
Clara Matonhodze:
They were always trying to reunite their family.
Bao M. Nguyen:
You got it.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But meeting Grandpa though, in California for the first time, that grandpa felt like a stranger, but I knew he was my grandfather.
Bryan Wright:
Yeah. And that’s. And too. That’s an interesting way to be living. To know that a journey was set out, but not knowing when or where or by whom. Because you had two sets of paperwork to navigate and to be told, okay, now it’s time to go to this new place that you didn’t know, weren’t familiar with other than maybe shows and such and stories from others. So when you arrived, was it already determined that you would arrive in California? Is that how you ended up in California?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. So that grandpa was in California. This grandpa was in Dayton, Ohio. So if this paperwork came first, I would have been to Dayton, Ohio first. But I got settled in California, but I’m closer to this side of the family. And then ultimately I think we got there at the beginning of December. At the end of December, I was here in Dayton, Ohio.
Bryan Wright:
Okay.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So it was a very click transition.
Bryan Wright:
And how, how old were you when this was happening?
Bao M. Nguyen:
15.
Bryan Wright:
15?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
So right in the middle of high school, I guess, going from California to Dayton, Ohio.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Correct.
Bryan Wright:
So a freshman sophomore at that time.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Freshman in high school in Miamisburg High School up in Dayton, Ohio.
Bryan Wright:
How was that?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Probably the biggest challenge in my life was that move from Ho Chi Minh city to Daytona. 10 million people.
Clara Matonhodze:
Dayton, Ohio. And this is the early 2000s, 2001, Dayton was very different. That’s about the time that I came over. And I remember Dayton, that time was very dead. Right. Like now there’s. Now there’s kind of like some revitalization happening. Kind of like Cincinnati.
Clara Matonhodze:
But back in the early 2000s, Dayton was gone. Did it feel like that for you? Like you were in the middle?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I don’t have that context because, remember, my context was Ho Chi Minh City.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. No, but I’m saying. So I have this, I have this vivid memory of when I first came to the US I was living in Philadelphia. It was extremely expensive. Expensive. And I moved to Cincinnati because it was much less expensive to be in school at NKU. It was like 2K versus 15K in Philadelphia. And I came on a Greyhound bus from Philly to Cincinnati.
Clara Matonhodze:
And I remember driving through, I think Mount Adams and the Greyhound bus coming into Cincinnati, and it just looked like such a desolate place, you know, compared to Philadelphia, which is a cosmopolitan city, Cincinnati felt like, what have I landed myself into? So that’s the, that’s the type of feeling I’m wondering you had when you saw Dayton at that time compared to Ho Chi Minh City. Because Ho Chi Minh, I think it’s very like you’re saying it’s a million scooters. Right?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Very dense.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Like I said, it felt like I was in farmland in Ohio, you know, or relative to Vietnam. Because you drive and you’re like, I don’t see anyone inside.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So, yeah, it’s a huge difference.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. So what was your first winter like?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I do remember taking the school buses. And in my mind I’m thinking I’m standing in a fridge because the weather is what in Vietnam we put in a freezer and here I am standing in it. So that was a weird concept.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And I also remember seeing snow, the postcard and living it. So first it was pretty. And then you, you’re thinking, this is messy.
Clara Matonhodze:
Like I’m really living in that freezer.
Bao M. Nguyen:
It’s. It’s. Yeah. But I do remember those concepts of man. Like, I can’t believe I’m standing inside a freezer and this is life.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, that’s it, really. I never thought of it like that. So I do remember being cold. Yeah, that’s one of the memories I personally have. I remember being cold. I remember being at a gas station at a bus station and there were a bunch of people smoking. And I. I’ve never smoked in my life.
Clara Matonhodze:
And I remember thinking, I wonder if I try to smoke if it’ll keep me warm somehow. That’s how cold it was. Interesting.
Bryan Wright:
You know, Belle, we’ve talked. We’ll talk. I’m sure we’ll get into this more. But in previous conversations you’ve talked about how you’re not. You don’t describe yourself as self made, but more family and community made. Can you talk about who were some of the people that carried you forward and what did they give you that stayed with you or that not just stayed, but you also gave out too.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Sure. I think the term self made is probably more common in this country because I always feel like there’s a bigger collective thinking unity of just my upbringing. And to be honest, your parents made you so you’re not self made.
Bryan Wright:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then they have to feed you and grow you to a certain point. So you clearly were never self made the first 20 years. You needed a lot of help. So I think we just forgot that. And then grandparents were such a big part of that in any culture. So I don’t know where the concept of self made is glorified. So I think for us, we have to be reminded that we are first family mates and that gives you grounds for those that are really invested in you. So for me, I want to go back to the first family.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Grandma helped out when mom was busy. So I remember spending a lot of time with grandma growing up. But when mom was also busy, all the aunts helped out. So actually in Vietnam, I remember calling my aunt mom five and mom four. And one time one of the guys picked us up to take us to school and he asked, how many moms do you have? I say, I thought I only got one. He said, why do you keep calling everyone mom? That’s when I realized that it’s the role in the family that shaped who we are. So I do have a lot of mothers from that standpoint that care for me growing up. And that’s what I meant by family made is I’m heavily shaped by all of it.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, I think, yeah, we all are. But I think in a Western, in a western perspective, people are looking at it’s very materialistic. Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So.
Clara Matonhodze:
And I can see how the self made would come from. So if you grew up poor, you have a lot of American millionaires that were not born into money. Right. Comp. So people like that tend to look at themselves like, I was not born into money, I did not inherit any money, but here I am, I’m a millionaire now. I am self made, you know, versus some people who kind of come into money because of who they are, you know, so that concept. But I also get the whole idea of, yeah, even if that’s how you end up. But along the way there is a lot more that poured into who you are, that poured into you being this millionaire or billionaire.
Clara Matonhodze:
It wasn’t self made. Right. I think Barack Obama is famous for saying something along the lines of the roads that you drive on, who built those? You didn’t do that. You know, the community did that. And you know, it’s like there’s a whole plethora of people who are behind what you eventually become. So the time to say, oh, self made, like really doesn’t make sense.
Bryan Wright:
You mentioned the first family. So in thinking about community, I’m curious, when you said first family, are you referring to first like the grandparents? Or maybe it’s both first families, the grandparents, the core family unit. But then the second family might be relationships you build in the community. Could you clarify what you meant by first family?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, I think let’s define the term community broadly. Right. I think by default it is family first because we were brought up that way. And then the next adjacencies I would say are friends, close friends. And same for me, the friends early on in Dayton and the friends’ family, that was a big part of it to help me navigate because I remember even in high school someone said, you need a job shadow. And I said, my aunt works as a factory worker. Sure, I’ll go shadow her. Because that’s about the only thing I know because I don’t know anyone else.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And they say, what do you, are you interested in? I say, I think engineering will be cool. I didn’t know anyone, so how can I job shadow? But that’s via that next adjacent community that you get to. And then for many it depends on where you congregate. It could be a temple, a church, just that natural piece. And then I think it continues to ripple out from there. And then as adults, you know where you’re not, where you volunteer, where you work. So that is what I think shapes who you are heavily.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But it starts first with family, friends and then continues to ripple out.
Bryan Wright:
Are you still friends? Do you still maintain relationships with those? So you went from California to Dayton, 15 years old, about.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Correct.
Bryan Wright:
And so you made friends despite the, you know, the shock of being in the US and then making these relationships. So you have friends. Are you still in contact with some of them or.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, the closest friends are still from the high school days. And we try to stay in touch and we try to have a once a year trip because we know we can’t make old friends. So we try to sustain and maintain those friendships.
Bryan Wright:
That’s great.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And their kids are. I am Uncle Ba. So I’m in their life.
Bryan Wright:
So the chosen family built, made a family. That’s it. That’s great.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. You know those communities when you’re an immigrant because, well, how, how big is your family by the way, that I here in the US Apart from your grandpa, relatively small.
Bao M. Nguyen:
From the Midwest side, maybe six to eight around here. But on the California, the, the other side, a little bit over two handfuls, but small.
Clara Matonhodze:
Okay. Yeah. So the community that you’re in tends to become that family for you, right? Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
We always talk about birth, blood, family and your chosen family.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
And there’s strength in both, right?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yep.
Bryan Wright:
You mentioned engineering and job shadowing. And there’s a lot there, like when you go into engineering, but also job shadowing and building these relationships. And you know, you ended up building a successful career at Procter and Gamble at P and G, and then became a North America sales manager for Swiffer. What drove your initial ambition in the corporate space? Because you’re in a little bit different space now. Still there. But where? How did this journey start in this kind of thread of your life?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think in us, the definition of typical success, I think, is a ladder. Hey, there’s these rungs that you just follow one rung after another and go to school, get a job, get promoted. So I think I would just fall on that. Typical. Define what success looks like. And of course I want the best ladder and some of the best rungs. Thus I pursue these opportunities. P and G.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I want to get in P and G. And then once I get in P and G, I started out engineering first and I said P and G is known for sales and marketing. So I pivoted into sales and marketing because that’s what I thought success was. And maybe you’ll come to this. But ultimately I kept climbing this ladder. But at that point, I realized that the ladder was leaning against the wrong tree. Right. So that was, I think, conflicting for me.
Bao M. Nguyen:
On paper, I look successful.
Bryan Wright:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Even to my own mother. But then ultimately I say, this is not it.
Clara Matonhodze:
So talk a little more about that. So the ladder is leaning on the wrong tree. And that’s png.
Bryan Wright:
I love that metaphor.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Because for most people that’s like a gold mine, you know, it’s like png, you’re traveling the world. Yeah. This company. So how did you do it? Yeah. Talk a little bit more about that turning point.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. PNG is one of the best teachers in my life and probably shaped who I am.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Because that’s another community, you know, like minded. I joke if P and G was a cult, it would be one of the biggest cult around here in Cincinnati.
Clara Matonhodze:
Well, that’s arguable.
Bao M. Nguyen:
We’re all one arm’s length from a png.
Clara Matonhodze:
I once dated a guy who had a sidebar. But talking about cults and Cincinnati and png, like, and it is kind of cultish. I think I had. Does PNG make Crest? No, I had Colgate. It makes Crest. I used to use Colgate and he absolutely made me change to Crest because he’s like, you cannot be living in Cincinnati and using Colegate loyalty.
Bao M. Nguyen:
That sounds about right.
Clara Matonhodze:
Loyalty. Yeah. Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think it’s not. Yeah. I don’t think it’s specific to png, but it just happened. It was png. I think so. The concept of corporate America was conflicting as I kept climbing the ladder. And this is the same in reference to who I am and my lived experience. So I think first, success is easily defined by making good money and keeping moving up.
Clara Matonhodze:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But then ultimately I realized that that ladder doesn’t end because you can be the CEO and your answers to the employees and the shareholders. So that is conflicting, number one. And number two is the better I did, the angrier and more resentment I have towards this journey I’m going on. But because here I’ve always had the feedback that you don’t have leadership skills. So that was conflicting to me.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. How are you getting up the ladder if you don’t have leadership skills?
Bao M. Nguyen:
You just have to realize who is in the controlling seats within typical corporate America. And those folks don’t look like me. So it’s conflicting from that standpoint. I do remember folks always say, hey, you’re quiet. Which is a feedback and which is fair. But I’m thinking to my peer groups, why are you repeating each other? Like, that’s why I don’t speak up. Because it’s a waste of our time if we keep saying the same stuff.
Clara Matonhodze:
Thank you.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then secondly, we are more humble. So we always talk about performance and all this and we crush it when it comes to performance. And yet the other aspect, it’s just not clicking. So here I am thinking, who runs Asia? It’s clearly not non Asian, folks. So that’s conflicting to me. And ultimately, knowing that it is a playground and the environment, I just knew that I was going to keep climbing. But ultimately it was not consistent and congruent of what I would want to do. So that clarity becomes clearer and clearer the more I progress.
Bryan Wright:
Yeah. And I hear this tension where you talk about the typical success and at some point you take your ladder to another tree, or maybe the tree’s not there yet. You plant the seed and grow your own tree. And we’ll get to that. But it sounds like. So at this point, what do you’re rethinking? What does success mean? Who defines that success? And also what does leadership look like? How it’s embodied as a person, but also as the skill sets too. And it sounds like you’re challenging both of those notions.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. I Wonder you’re being told like you don’t have leadership skills. Was it pertaining to you personally or was it homogeneously said application to like you’re Asian. Asians can be leaders.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think it’s just the context of me in those environments because different folks have different challenges. So yeah, for me that was the conflicting point. And then it came to the point where I knew the push was too strong. So. And that’s when I decided it’s time to pivot. What was your question regarding all these frameworks and redefining success?
Clara Matonhodze:
Yes, sorry, Bryan, I interrupted.
Bryan Wright:
No, no, no, this is good because I’m thinking that you’re now hitting a point in your career when you turn away from corporate success to start defining success in your own way. What does that look like? We can say now or maybe at that time just so we can see the process. But how, how do you start seeing success and how it’s defined? What does it look like? What does success look like to you?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Sure. That is probably some of the hardest work I think I have done in the last decade is working on me. Not working on a project for someone else, but working on me. And actually at the beginning I did not know how to verbalize that. So go back to it. You seek the community, mate. Because my own family was actually some of the bigger pain points for me. Because every time I bring it up, I remember my mom has such a hard time with me entertaining this concept of leaving png.
Bao M. Nguyen:
She probably thought I was crazy.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
First switching from engineering to sales and marketing and then when I say I think I’m gonna head out. So knowing that I know I couldn’t ask her those questions anymore. And I found mentors that left P and G into various playgrounds and then really dug deeper into why I have this struggle and challenge because of my unique experience. So that was a lot of work. I remember one of my mentors I met in 2018 and I didn’t leave PNG until 2020, so I already started the work. And I remember him asking me three years from now, in 2018, what would that look like? Because he believed it would take me about two to three years. He wasn’t that. Yeah, he wasn’t that far off from it.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And we had the conversation again in 2025. So relative a second wave of three years. So that’s a framework I never had. But this person was in the 60s and navigated a lot of stuff. But back then I was in my early 30s, so I needed all the help to create a new framework. But back to your questions. I think success for me, heavily defined, is. And this is where I dug deeper into who my family was.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Success is the opportunity that I was given. And then what can I do with that opportunity? And for me I want to enable other families because our family was helped. Remember who got Grandpa here? It wasn’t randomly Grandpa got here. It was some generous folks who actually co-signed the paperwork for grandpa to sign us. The gentleman I actually met ended up marrying my aunt. And he said, I co-signed it knowing ultimately I’m financially responsible. But he said, I know you guys will never need a penny from me, but that signature was very important for us to come over. So that is enabling for me.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And the only way for me to feel that impact is when I get to work with families, individuals and family directly. That grandpa gave us money, but it all crumbled up, like, balled up. And I was like, how? Like, you just didn’t feel like folding it? Like, what’s up with that? So I was like, oh, that’s fine. And then 20, 2017, I was in Nashville working for P and G, but on Dollar General Team. And then I found out Grandpa passed. And first I was, like, busy. I don’t want to go to the funeral because I don’t know grandpa well. But I was like, no, I need to make time.
Bao M. Nguyen:
You know, I went there and my aunt says, your dad is the only son. You’re his only son. Can you say a few words? I was like, what’s up with the pressure? I said, I don’t know Grandpa like that. And the night before I was supposed to share a few words, I met with a friend that I knew in California, and I showed her the picture. And that’s the first time I found out what grandpa actually did to earn the money. He was begging for the money the whole time he was with us.
Clara Matonhodze:
He was. Was.
Bao M. Nguyen:
He was begging for the money.
Bryan Wright:
Them to be able to come here.
Clara Matonhodze:
Oh, wow. And that’s why it was crumbled up like that.
Bryan Wright:
That’s the gift.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I know I could never do that. I think I would have a harder time. But grandpa did it with a different purpose. And that’s why I said, grandpa set out for the legacy that I never knew him.
Clara Matonhodze:
That’s why it’s so emotional for you. Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
You said you couldn’t do that. But we show our strengths in different ways. And you have a gift to show your strength in many different ways as well.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And I knew that grandpa very little. But I think about the legacy that Grandpa left. In the very few interactions I’ve had with grandpa, I think that’s as I get. I dig deeper and deeper as I get older. That’s the one that always anchors back.
Clara Matonhodze:
Your story is so powerful like your grandpa. Because now I’m making all these connections. Like it’s the reason why you probably didn’t know about him. You know, if, like, it’s hard. I know as an immigrant, as an immigrant, if that was the life I was living, it would be hard to keep in touch with family because of all the expectations in this great country. So it’s like, what do I even talk about? You know, so. But if he has a, if he had a vision, obviously, and he’s probably told himself, I will just show by making them come over, you know, I have nothing that I. Yeah, that was, it couldn’t have.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, that was a tough life for your grandfather. But he just kept his goal of making sure you guys were here and, and you know, and I’ll just show them rather than tell. Right? Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. I’m not, I’m not that far removed from, from, all of that, you know.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I carry all of it with me.
Clara Matonhodze:
That’s also the beauty of America. So you are self made. You know, you didn’t.
Bao M. Nguyen:
No, never.
Clara Matonhodze:
You didn’t. Yeah. But I’m saying, you know, you can look at that. And so, yeah, I didn’t come from anybody who’s like, here is a million dollars or whatever, $20,000.
Bryan Wright:
You know, you’d say, you’re right. I hear when you say not far removed from a time standpoint, we’re 50 years out. Right. But also there’s a choice to keep close to 2000. Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
The Vietnam War.
Bryan Wright:
Yeah, the war. The end of the war. And so you’re not far removed from a temporal standpoint, but you’re also not far removed because you still hold the pain, the sorrow, the struggle, but also the joy close. And that is what’s so powerful. And you hold in a way that expresses outwardly as love and a desire for everyone to be better. That just means I learned so much from you because of that. So thank you.
Clara Matonhodze:
Thank you for sharing.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then various things ultimately led me to just financial as a system because I’ve always helped my aunt over the years, so it just pointed me to the industry. But yeah, that to me is the freedom to have the impact the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed, that is successful.
Clara Matonhodze:
So you work in financial services now. And what is, what is your focus in financial services? What exactly are you doing in that industry? How are you living fully in the industry with everything that you came to realize and decide this is what success will be like for you?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, I think the industry, it’s just the easiest tool to measure. It’s a number. I’m in the business of people. I just happen to deal with a lot of money. So the number, I think the number is the easiest scorecarding. But it is a tool. It’s an exchange, a medium of exchanging value. So knowing that’s the easiest scorecard, I leveraged that tool.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But we use that tool to translate into the life journey again. Yeah, it’s just a tool.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. Okay.
Bryan Wright:
What families need, you’ve talked about. This is interesting how you started off in engineering at P and G. You moved into sales and marketing, which now does. Having previous conversations with you does not sound surprising. In a sense, you’re moving into a more, yes, it’s brand focus, but it’s people engagement and building community. Now you’re also trying to sell a product at that time. But then also, how do you start to define success for yourself in a way that’s meaningful for yourself and for the broader community? So still building community. When you made that switch away from corporate life, how did you do it?
Bryan Wright:
Out of all the places you could have landed, why financial services? And why with the people? And who are those people? Why did you? Out of all the opportunities, why did you land in financial services?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, I think that one is more of a pull. Leaving was a push.
Bryan Wright:
Sure.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And I think the pull happens because I did part of the framework. I actually did ask those closest to me, what am I good at? Because sometimes you could be a tiger, but you think you’re a house cat because you’re just not sure. Your reflection is not accurate. But in that time I do remember folks said, hey, you’re a very good saver. So by default, I didn’t need to learn how to save. I’m already good at it because of the lived experience. And second, you’re also good at growing that, but you don’t even spend it. So like, what are you doing it for? And even my aunt, she said, hey, you’ve helped me reading about everything to help me navigate since 2012.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I remember reading about Social Security, Medicare, all of these things just to help my aunt. And I even remember the vanguard folks got so mad at me for always helping her, I had to sign some paperwork to say, hey, you have the authority to do it.
Clara Matonhodze:
So.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So hearing that, that’s the Value you hear back from the marketplace, from the capitalism standpoint.
Clara Matonhodze:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then knowing that ultimately I thought this is stuff you just do sitting around in a backyard campfire. You just do this for fun. Until I verbalize that. And folks say, hey, there’s a couple industries that actually. You do this for real.
Clara Matonhodze:
Exactly that.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And I say, how come I didn’t know about these industries? But in a way, because those in the industry don’t look like us. They never have the opportunity to bring folks like us in. So once I made it known that I’m interested, a buddy from college said, I’m gonna lock you in before you change your mind. Because he said, you are crazy enough to leave PNG and I want to make sure you end up with us first before you talk to other people. Which I did end up talking to other people. But he said, I will move you through the system very quickly. Be ready.
Bryan Wright:
He saw your potential.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yep. And he said, I’m afraid you will change your mind was his point. He said, I will make sure we lock you in before you change your mind.
Bryan Wright:
Looking back, do you feel he might have been right?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I agree. I think so. The industry. I think the industry. I think the industry is what I ought to get into. Will I wear the same jersey forever? That I’m not sure, but I think it’s the right pivot and everything continues to evolve. But I’m glad, and like I said, I’m lucky because that’s when I seek the help and I share it broadly. And it pointed me to this.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So that was a pull. I didn’t search for it. I didn’t know the industry existed. Bryan.
Bryan Wright:
Right. No, this is good. And so we’re coming up on a break and actually we’ll go ahead and take a break now and then when we come back, we’ll talk more about community building. Community. So, yeah. So we’ll take a break now and we’ll be back. You are listening to Roots, Routes and Voices, a Cincinnati Compass podcast. This podcast was funded in part by a grant from Carol Ann and Ralph v.
Bryan Wright:
Hale Jr. Foundation. Thank you for your support in helping us to share stories that make up our beautiful region, but often go unheard. Welcome back, everybody. So let’s talk about building. You’re involved in the creation and the growth of Asian Food Fest here in Cincinnati and also Asian Natty. It’d be great for you to talk about both of these. And what did you see missing in your city in the region that made you want to create something new? Like these.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So the Asian Food Fest was started in 2010. And just for context, many of the folks that are involved with Asian Food Fest, we met before that via UC University of Cincinnati. And the thought process then for many of us is once we were done with school, we would leave Cincinnati to go somewhere else, somewhere more exciting.
Bryan Wright:
That’s a common feeling across communities, right?
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. That’s why I love it when I’m done with school and you’re still here.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. In some way, somehow, a good chunk of us stayed around jobs, various things, but intention was heading out. And because of that one concept that is always very true is we would still travel for food. We would go to Chicago. We would do a day trip to Chicago just to eat something exciting and come back. That’s a lot of driving Columbus, that kind of stuff. So there was a need for us, for our community. So that is where this concept is, hey, let’s pop up something and make it unique and exciting.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And that’s where Asian Food Fest kind of started, because we wanted more exciting food from the various communities. So that’s why early on you have the Korean church, the Vietnamese church, because these are home chefs, these are not dishes that you found at restaurants. And it continued to prosper. But the theme that you hear a lot in our community is that food is our love language. And that’s why we’ve always anchored on that. And that’s why Asian Food Fest is the single largest event and it grew to the way it is. And ultimately we knew that was beyond that. So the second I would call it what Asian natty has evolved, which we share to the broader community of Cincinnati, is a sense of belonging.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Food is just one bucket of it. Because before you didn’t feel that sense of belonging because you didn’t even get the food you wanted to eat. I remember working at various places, and most of the time when we go out to lunch, I don’t get to eat the thing I want to eat. Remember, we’re reflecting back, right? Ten, 15 years ago, it was the Bob Evans of the world. So I would go, but I don’t get excited about it. And that’s to reflect back in Vietnam. This is joy. It’s supposed to be a joyous occasion, sharing food.
Bao M. Nguyen:
We all get our own plate, the exact same for the whole meal. So I needed that family style, different style of food. And then. So that’s always been the concept, but the broader theme is a sense of belonging. And that’s what we have evolved.
Clara Matonhodze:
I actually remember back in 2010, when you were studying at the Asian Food Festival. I had a lot of meetings with Ronnie Equino, I think the spot of your group. I’m not sure if you’re still involved, but I was working for a local institution that you’re trying to host, Asian Food Fest. In the end, we just couldn’t make the logistics work with you guys. Had a really big vision that scared this institution. Like, I don’t know we’ll be able to do that. But I remember those conversations very well. So I’m glad to see you pulled it off, you know, and.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. And that it’s happening at the scale that it’s happening and you stuck to your guts because I think in those conversations we were trying to make you smaller, you know, and being contained. And Ronnie at the time was very much like, no, we need this to blow up, you know, and that that was what this institution couldn’t end up doing. So I’m glad you stuck to that. And it’s as big as it is.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yep. Thank you.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
Yeah. I have two questions. One, kind of going back, you mentioned family style eating. Could you kind of elaborate on what you mean by that?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. So I think this is another difference in eating. Especially when you go out to eat here, we go in, everyone orders their own dish. That’s typical. Typically in Asia, when you go eating and bond with folks, if there’s six of us, we would order six dishes, various ones. It’s likely there won’t be two of the same one. And we can share. And that’s common.
Bao M. Nguyen:
That’s very common by default. And. But that’s strange here. That didn’t happen even if you wanted people to try it. They were not open for it just yet. So over the years, I think that is a big push from folks. Like our community is, hey, we have to go to various styles of restaurants and you have to follow along with us so we can show you. But that is on its own, is a bonding not just for as a.
Clara Matonhodze:
P and G person. You have to understand the personalization that goes into the food here. I mean, if I order my food, I don’t want onions, I want low fat, zero salt. It’s hard to share, you know, so you can understand the reason why. I guess, you know, it’s. I mean, I’m being funny, but yeah, you know, where people don’t share food here, like we all have our own individual quirks that trying to order food with everybody else is correct. You know, it’s tough. It’s like nobody wants to eat your non-salt food.
Bryan Wright:
Right. That’s, I think, where with this, the family style it is. You talked about food as our love language and sharing a meal. It’s sharing, it’s giving, but it’s also negotiating around passing the plate. Is there enough for everyone? You don’t want to take too much. You don’t want, you know, you want to have. If, if there is someone who is eating only gluten free, then you don’t want to eat all that gluten free because you’re going to take away from one of the few things they can eat. So it’s this constant negotiation which is not a struggle, but just a natural human thing to negotiate and to build and share together.
Bryan Wright:
You also mentioned it. Creating a sense of belonging and food is at the center of that and we talked about sharing a meal, but how else does it create a sense of belonging with food as the vehicle and Asian natty and Asian food festival platform.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
Can you talk about that in more detail about belonging and how that’s enhanced or created or.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, but quick question, Bob, before you answer that. Do you eat your food fast or slow? Are you like a fast eater or a slow eater?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think by myself I’m faster.
Clara Matonhodze:
Eater, but generally, as the culture in the group, are you guys, are you fast eaters or slow eaters?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think personally I’m a faster eater, but in a group setting, the purpose there is different for me.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Because like Bryan kind of hinted at it as folks that just need to be pure veg. So from that standpoint, it’s a bonding experience for me. Do I have to have the exact same dish for that meal? No, but it was us to bond together. So I’m happy to be all vegetarian because that’s meaningful for whoever I’m sharing the meal with.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. Okay.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And it’s easier for me, but in that setting, I’m slow. I would say, hey, go for it, go for it. And we can always order more.
Bryan Wright:
Sure.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And then I might be very hungry. But it was going to be a fun experience for sure.
Clara Matonhodze:
I have a Mauritanian friend who always used to joke about how fast he ate, you know, and he’s like, well, you have to understand, I come from a culture where food is shared, you know, so you all put food in the middle. Everyone, like all six of you or seven of you, if you’re not eating fast enough, you’re not going to get enough. So you tend to eat faster, you know, because everyone is trying to get their feeling. So, yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
No, but that’s. That’s funny because that’s their lived experience.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
How I over compensate for that. I order way too much food, so that is typically the other part.
Clara Matonhodze:
You make sure you have enough.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Because that’s how I show hospitality.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I. If it’s two of us, it looks like I’m ordering for 10. But that’s where I say, hey, this is my love language. I’m showing you that. This is hospitality. It just shows up in a different way.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
It takes away the. Because you don’t want to be perceived as taking too much, but let’s take it off the table so you can have any option you want. And there’s plenty here for us to have to nourish our bodies and to nourish our minds and build our relationships. That’s great.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But come back to you. Your question on sense of belonging.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think that is a very complicated concept, and you can break it down in any given lens. But the easiest, because for me, growing up in Vietnam, my default was all these food options. But Cincinnati, 15 years ago, wasn’t too hot a place to pick, right? So from that standpoint, if I said, hey, we should go get pho, everyone would ask, what did you just say?
Clara Matonhodze:
What is pho?
Bryan Wright:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So that it just felt like, man, this is such a warm thing to me. I grew up with it, but it’s such a foreign thing to everyone. So that doesn’t feel like this is home. Now let’s move it. Fast forward. When people say, bao, let’s go get boba. You know, we came a very long way.
Bryan Wright:
Right.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Because I remember as a kid in Vietnam, I got a stipend. This is in middle school. I didn’t even eat with my money for the stipend. I got boba. So I’m thinking, there’s no way. This is like in the 90s, right. And now people are asking me to get boba in 2025. So that is a different feeling.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But there was a good 20 years there that just got buried deep down.
Clara Matonhodze:
Do you think Asian food festivals or Asian Nati had some part of it? How has that been blown up in Cincinnati?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think it has a big part of it. It’s a point of pride because I do remember before it was such a push, right? The push that, hey, we need to do this. It’s a point of pride because a lot of folks now don’t know that some of us are part of the Asian Nadi team.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. It’s the biggest in 2010. Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But they use that as a point of pride about Cincinnati. So, yes, check, check and check all the boxes. And I think because of that, we punch way above our weights as a city when it comes to cultural food.
Clara Matonhodze:
Oh, yeah, no doubt. Yeah.
Bryan Wright:
I appreciate you sharing your experience with Boba because so often we hear with belonging, people want to see themselves reflected in the cultural offerings, whether it’s theater or. And then also in food. And it helps people feel a sense of home, either from a nostalgic point, but also a new home here in Cincinnati. Right. And it allows for. I also see it as entrepreneurial where it helps people to start businesses around this food. You mentioned there were two PHO places 10, 15 years ago. Now there’s many more.
Bryan Wright:
There’s hot pot places, both Japanese and Korean. And so there’s a good diversity of food and also spring rolls from various countries. And so you get a diverse palette or offering of food. But there’s entrepreneurs behind those who are also generating incomes for their family and for the broader community too. So that’s, that’s. I just love you sharing the story about Boba because that, that’s what it gets down to. Right. To that individual experience and then that.
Bryan Wright:
That comfort.
Clara Matonhodze:
So talking a lot about belonging and community and all of that. Bao, do you. So where is bao in all of this? Like, do you. Is this something that identifies as just you, the essence of you, that does not involve community, or is. Are the two pretty much in sync with each other? I think when you build something for yourself, what is that? What does that look like?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think they’re interconnected. They’re part of the same thing. But if you dig deeper, I think first is actually self serving because you have to solve the problem for yourself.
Clara Matonhodze:
So what is that for you?
Bao M. Nguyen:
And I think for me even though right now, 2025, I lived here for over 20 years, this is my chosen home. It doesn’t always feel homey.
Clara Matonhodze:
It doesn’t always feel homey.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Correct. It’s the same feeling actually, when I go to Vietnam. It doesn’t feel as homey anymore because I’m now way too American. I dress differently, I stand kind of awkward, like a bit naive to locals. They say something is a bit off about you. So that is that ever changing landscape. And I think for me, that’s the navigating that I need to do for myself first.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And because of that, it’s actually applicable to many others. And the most adjacencies are the Asian community. As much as I don’t like to be called Asian. I’m Vietnamese. Pakistani is Asian, and so is Vietnamese. And we’re very different.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So I think that’s ultimately, I would love to do. For us to get further, but right now that’s the closest check boxes we can organize in larger size and. But the same concept, like I said, sense of belonging, that serves for me, it’s applicable to a lot of global citizens and similar minds.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. Folks, part of. Part of what we talk about here at Truth, Sh and Voices is we are also trying to figure out what it means to be American. At what point do you stop being, say, you know, an immigrant and you’re just American? And I’m wondering, as you talk about that way, you don’t feel American, but at the same time you don’t feel Vietnamese. You know, you’re somewhere, I guess, in the middle. What’s. So what. What are you?
Clara Matonhodze:
How.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah. And I think this is an ongoing struggle and challenge for multiple lenses. I think I’m that hyphen in between. I’m the bridge.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah, you’re the hyphen. I like that.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I am that hyphen in between. And it’s ever changing. It’s ever changing. The reason is because for many in the Asian community, we are treated like a forever foreigner. So that is the environment that we’re in. And then from the concept of, to your point, American, who is American, that’s ever changing. So I think 20, 30 years from now, that will be different than. But for me, there’s a lot of pride in being Vietnamese.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So I like Vietnamese Americans. Just like we have German ancestry and Italian. That’s something I know a whole lot about is Vietnam. I don’t know about Pakistan. I don’t know about India. I don’t know about Malaysia.
Clara Matonhodze:
And just Vietnam, America, Vietnamese Americans.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So that is the. The. I think it’s an ever changing concept. But if you go broader, I like it. Like, that’s why I use a global citizen. It just happened that I call this home, but I can navigate the world.
Bryan Wright:
So you’ve talked about the challenge of not being American enough and then all being perceived as a forever foreigner. You talked about returning to Vietnam and feeling at home, but also as an outsider there, so not fully fitting in anymore into either place. But you’ve talked about this hyphen, this third space where there’s opportunity. It sounds like you’re framing it as like, it is a challenging space, but one full of opportunity, of building and creating a new space. And in that space, I’m wondering, you’re talking, you’re negotiating the different aspects of your life and your journey. What has helped you to come into full ownership of your story? Not that it’s a fully written story, it’s still being written. But what helps you to.
Clara Matonhodze:
But in that space, yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I would say all those lived experiences, especially the struggle, because I could not set out to say these are what I need to have. But the struggle when you had your head banging against the wall and saying, what is this is not working. I think those are slowly shaping that. So to your point, corporate America is one example of shaping that. Living in town. But where do I live in town? Because, you know, my office was in the city of Hamilton in Butler County. And even that I say I will have to physically move my office because I don’t like spending eight to ten hours every day in this space. So that is ever changing.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Did I know where I ought to put it? I did not. But sometimes I just have to take one step and say, huh, this is not a great fit. Let me pivot. So that is ever changing. The environment changes sometimes faster than I like to admit as well, because the current environment is changing. So I don’t have a clear answer. But that is ever evolving.
Clara Matonhodze:
That’s not a bad place to be. I think as humans, we’re ever evolving. You never truly arrive at anything right. So. So yeah, that in itself, I think speaks volumes to you, Bao. Do you think so? Like, there was another interview that I was in, or maybe it was something that I read that you had talked about the responsibility at great length, the responsibility of not closing the gate behind you. What does that look like in practice in your daily life and work?
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think for many of us there’s a fear. One of the emotions that comes deep down is fear of the unknown. Fear of something. And let’s use the broader concept of immigration. You know, this country is built on immigration, right? But for those that got the opportunity to be here, because I know my friends in Vietnam, some of them are smarter than me, some of them work harder than me. Just a few facts that I live here, I make four or five times what they make just because of the playground.
Clara Matonhodze:
Oh yeah, no doubt. Yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
But I am. If we were stacked toe to toe, would I be better than them? No, I’m not. I. I will tell you that straight up. I’m not. And then because we’re here sometimes we say, hey, others cannot have that opportunity that I feel like we’re closing the gate. So I need to remind folks that they got that opportunity, that hey, we cannot shut the door and help others. So as much as we benefit from it, I think it’s to keep paving it forward because someone paved it for me.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So that’s what I meant by responsibility. And even as simple as getting into corporate America, if someone wants to do it. Let’s set up some time. I’ll talk you through how to prepare for the interview, how to use them, and your own lived experience to explain what you’re made of. Even though you got zero internship. I talked about moving to us. That alone outweighs any full grown human being experience at a 15 year old kid. Navigating, pivoting two countries.
Bao M. Nguyen:
That alone outweighs a lot of actual work experience. So that to me is to continue to know those experiences and help others that just come after you to accelerate it because they have similar challenges. I just happen to be one and maybe two steps ahead of them.
Bryan Wright:
Yeah, you talk about this metaphor of the gate and then also I think earlier about your use of trees and ladders. I think it reminds me of the game Chutes and Ladders.
Clara Matonhodze:
Right.
Bryan Wright:
But with the metaphor, rather the trees and ladder. Like you climb the ladder but you also, you drop it down for the next person to come up and that’s the community to come up. And then there are already existing trees. But sometimes you need to plant your own seeds and I see you doing that and the platforms that you have, not you personally because I think it’s also a community as well. But with Asian Natty, Asian Food Fest, you work in financial services and then just your role as a community builder. What do you hope that the next generation inherits from your journey and your platform? And who are you building for?
Clara Matonhodze:
Great question. Who are you building for?
Bao M. Nguyen:
Yeah, I think this is probably similar to what with Asian Natty and all these Asian professors. First, I’m building it for my community, which is my family. First because we needed to solve that, we needed to prosper in this new playground. And then because of that, we know this is the playground. How do we continue to make it prosper even more? And I’m going to go back to your title of this. I even use another analogy of trees. I think I’m a tropical tree deep down and I’ve been uprooted from Vietnam and planted it here in Ohio. So that tree for a while kind of died.
Bao M. Nguyen:
However, what you guys or the community might not see is that I’m constantly working on the roots, but also at times I worked on the roots the whole time. But I did not prosper as well until the environment evolved. And somehow, somehow it just got warmer in Ohio and that tree came back up.
Clara Matonhodze:
You are not living in a fridge anymore.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Exactly. But it might have sprouted a little bit. And then it got cold again and I died again. Until someone said, hey, let’s put a greenhouse around it.
Clara Matonhodze:
Spring has come back.
Bao M. Nguyen:
So there’s that environment. Sometimes you get to know how to create or find it because you have the ability to put the greenhouse on yourself. And then over time as well, I’m learning to say, you know what? I’m a very premium tree with fruit. But people did not know that. If they did not know about these industries, they wouldn’t look_like me. But now you have to individually, a mechanism to overcome that and show them your strengths, yeah.
Bao M. Nguyen:
And by the time you have the fruit, you might not be the one around to enjoy the fruit, but will you do it? Because along the way, you have benefited from somebody else’s fruit of their labor. So I think that’s a legacy. I keep going back to my own family because that grandpa I never met, I am enjoying all the fruit of his labor.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yeah. So. So what would. If you were. If you could speak to him directly today, what would you like them to know about the life that you have built for Grandpa? And I think we’ll end on your answer to that.
Bao M. Nguyen:
I think for me, even though Grandpa did not know about me, he. He knew what he was building for, and he did not get a chance to see it. But all that is playing out. So there are things that I will not see, but I’m happy to do it. And I hope Grandpa is proud of all the struggle and challenge that he went through.
Clara Matonhodze:
No doubt.
Bryan Wright:
No doubt.
Clara Matonhodze:
No doubt. Yeah. You’re getting really emotional. And, you know, I have no doubt your grandpa would be, because that’s what he would have wanted. You are making a difference in the city that you’re living in. That’s everything that he would ever have wanted for you. Being an American, making a life for yourself. And it doesn’t get any better than working at P and G and progressing from that to building something as beautiful as Asian Nazi and Africa and Asian Food Festival, and.
Clara Matonhodze:
And you give back to your community through education and making sure everyone is on solid foundation, financial Foundation. I don’t know how you could have done it any better.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Right.
Bryan Wright:
You talked about success. This is the success, the love.
Clara Matonhodze:
Yes.
Bryan Wright:
That you feel for yourself and you give out to the community. He sees that and feels that. And that is the success and the legacy. And I’m very thankful for you giving us the gift of your time here, the gift of your time in the community, and thankful to know you and to continue to walk side by side with you to plant more seeds and see your tree continue to grow and prosper.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
Clara Matonhodze:
You’re welcome, Bob. Keep planting those seeds.
Bao M. Nguyen:
Absolutely.
Bryan Wright:
Thanks everybody. To everyone at home, we appreciate you for joining us today. If you haven’t already, please subscribe to Roots, Routes and Voices that Shape America wherever you stream your podcast. Visit www.cincinnaticompass.org to sign up for our newsletter and stay connected about upcoming community events.
Clara Matonhodze:
Our producers are Asiami Shu and Jane Moendi. Sound engineering and mixing provided by Hardcast Media, onsite engineers Peter and Audrey and 1127 Media. A very special thank you to the Forest Park Branch of Cincinnati Hamilton County Public Library for hosting and to Carol Ann and Ralph v. Hale Jr. Foundation for sponsoring our podcast. I’m your host, Clara Matanoze. Thanks for listening.