ANH NGUYEN

I AM A LEADER

Xin chào mọi người! My name is Anh Nguyen, I am a current Senior at the University of Washington. My current studies include Human Resource Management at the Michael G. Foster School of Business with minors in Education and Diversity.

As a Vietnamese-American and a 1.5-generation student, I am motivated by the different opportunities presented to me and work hard for my goals. I am a leader because I believe in constantly pushing myself to be a better version of me.

Core Values

Adventure

Explorative experience that typically entails risk, spontaneity, and curiosity. This experience is one that is unknown to the individual and there is a desire to discover the unknown.

When one typically thinks of adventure, one would resort to a traveling experience or the hero/heroine embarks on a journey to discover something unknown. To me, the word adventure entails both of those examples and more. When I even say the word adventure, I get a flutter inside of me that is craving the idea of something I am unaware of or have yet to experience. I believe adventure has importance to me because I see my whole life as an adventure; there are so many things I have yet to discover and I am incredibly eager to see it all.

Determined

The act of knowing what one wants in life and doing whatever one can to achieve that goal.

A lot of people know me as one that is very determined because I truly know what I want in life. Some would call me controlling and even high maintenance, but I brush it off because of this core value. As an individual and a leader, I have high expectations and standards for everyone and everything because I know what I want when I want it, and how I want it. Some may say this determined trait is intimidating, but I see it as a strength.

Hope

The desire for a certain thing to happen.

While I like to see myself as one that gets what she wants, the world is not always that nice to me, therefore, I have hope. When there are things I cannot control, I leave it to the hope I have in myself and hope the universe reciprocates.

Independence

The act of being dependent on oneself and not needing outside influence to pursue one’s purpose.

I believe this definition of independence resonates with the way I live my life. Although I love hearing the advice and thoughts from others, in the end, I am the one that makes the decisions that impact my life. I think this core value truly embodies my mindset and the way I choose to live my life; I like knowing that I am a silo and I think and act on my own.

Happiness

The feeling of content and satisfaction. In the exact moment or period in time, there are no worries or fears.

Throughout my life, I feel like I strive for this feeling. There are moments in my life where I can recall this exact feeling, but it takes the right environment, the right people, and the right circumstances. In the end, I just want to be happy with where I am in life and I think that happiness is I strive for.

Unique Leadership Identities

Adaptable Leader

As an RA for the Business LLC, I live where I work. I struggled with connecting with my residents because I was in a position of authority even though I was a student myself. I completed a lot of trial and error when it came to trying to form relationships with my residents; a lot of them were not as open as I hoped and many just did not want to interact with me at programs or hall events. It was not until I met my residents where they were at by personally approaching them when they were in the cooking or study lounges and asking them about their day. I became an RA known to walk around the residential hall genuinely asking my residents how they were doing. I realized that I could not expect my residents to approach me, I should go out of my way to meet my residents where they are; that way I am ensuring that I am doing what I can to make them feel comfortable around me.

Behind-the-Scenes Leader

In my position as the Building Networks Program Manager, I did a lot of coordinating in the background, whether it was interviewing and selecting the mentors, selecting the mentees, building the curriculum, connecting with the professional partners, etc. It was hard for the outside stakeholders to see what my actual role entails. In this role, I realized that a lot of my work will not be as recognized as what the mentors presented or what the mentees even saw, but I realized that I do not need the acknowledgment or recognition for me to continue doing what I needed to do. I enjoyed doing the behind the scenes work and being able to look at the bigger picture.

Learning & Development Enthusiast

In my role at Amazon, I completed a lot of HR generalist tasks, but I was also given a project regarding learning and development for area managers. I realized that I was not very fond of being a generalist, so the experience showed me what I did not want to do; however, my project truly showed me what I wanted to do with my career. I found that my learning and development project showed me what I enjoyed out of HR. I loved talking to people and understanding how they learn; I collected and analyzed data on how to be strategic in the way I was educating the area managers. Besides my project, I also worked on creating tutorials for associates, since most of them are illiterate when it came to technology. Through my experience at Amazon, I realized that I have been passionate about learning and development and I want to practice this passion every day in my life. Although I might not have the title as “Learning and Development Coordinator” or “Specialist”, but I will always be passionate about helping others around me learn and develop themselves.

Flawed Mentor

As a mentor for The Dream Project, and a mentor in general, I like showing my mentees my flaws. In the past, I used to try to hold a high image of myself and ask who I am to act more professionally around my mentee. I realized after some experience that it was not the best way to connect with my mentee. It was after a hard week where I was in a mid-breakdown when I told my mentee that my week was not going so great. I spent a little bit of time talking about how I am dealing with a lot, and I am slowly working through my problems. I honestly felt so unprofessional and was afraid that my mentee would think less of me because she realized I was not as equipped as I made myself out to be. The total opposite effect happened. My mentee expressed to me how grateful she was that I was honest with her and able to be flawed because it made her feel more comfortable talking to me. She said that she was afraid I was going to judge her for her struggles, but when I opened up, she felt comfortable to relate herself to my experiences. Through this experience, I was able to grow myself as a leader and realize that I do not have to be perfect, by showing my flaws I can show others that you can grow from your struggles and become a better person after it.

My "Why"

I truly love being in the support role for others because I genuinely love getting to know people. I have been in positions where I need the support and I was surrounded by people that constantly took the time to listen to me and help me. I want to be that support person for others because I know the transformation that could take place once someone believes in you and invests their time and energy in you. I am constantly motivated by the people I work with. I love listening to their stories and understanding how they best operate; by having a thorough understanding of the individuals, I can utilize different approaches to support them.

My Future

After I end my chapter at UW, I hope to build on what I have learned about myself as a leader while at the school. I plan on continuing to mentor others, formally and informally and continue to act as a resource. I hope to continue to develop myself personally by keeping a growth mindset and still being eager to learn. I envision my development through learning in the workplace, learning from others, and one day learning and achieving a Graduate degree. In the future, I plan on receiving a Master's degree in Learning and Development so I am well equipped with the tools to support corporations further develop their employees. As a leader, I know my journey does not stop here and I will continue to grow and better myself.

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