Sandy considers herself as a lucky person. She was born during the American War in Hanoi and lived in Vietnam until she was ten years old. After three years of living in a plantation in a rural area of China and refugee camps, she arrived in the United States at thirteen with her family. Sandy recalled the first day in an American middle school, she stood outside a lunchroom looking through a glass door while all the other students were eating and laughing. She was crying because she didn’t know how to ask for a lunch ticket in English. For the first week, she did nothing but put her head down on a desk and cried. No one seemed to notice. But then she remembered how her parents had risked their lives on a fishing boat. For three years in the camp, she longed for a day she could go to school again. She decided that she must learn English. With the help of teachers and friends, five years later, Sandy received a scholarship to go to Duke University, one of the top ten leading universities in the United States. 

Because of her experience, Sandy knew that education is the key to improve one’s life and the lives of others. As a result, in 1998 she built a nonprofit organization to help thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the United States. In 2010, after she graduated from Harvard Kennedy School, she was appointed by former President Obama to serve on the board of the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF), and then in 2014 she became the Executive Director of VEF. During her tenure, Sandy started the Public Narrative and Adaptive Leadership training program to further enhance VEF fellow’s ability to lead and become effective change makers. Again, Sandy used her education to uplift others and help them to maximize their potential.

After the success of the leadership training program, in 2019 Sandy started to offer Public Narrative workshops to leaders around the world. Sandy loves teaching this framework because she has been using it throughout her career as a leader. She knows that this framework helps people to understand their own purpose and values through their lived experiences. Through storytelling, leaders can learn how to tell an authentic story about their pain and then turn it into hope for others. From stories, they can build deep connections and work toward a common goal.
After the success of the leadership training program, in 2019 Sandy started to offer Public Narrative workshops to leaders around the world. Sandy loves teaching this framework because she has been using it throughout her career as a leader. She knows that this framework helps people to understand their own purpose and values through their lived experiences. Through storytelling, leaders can learn how to tell an authentic story about their pain and then turn it into hope for others. From stories, they can build deep connections and work toward a common goal.

In the last two years, Sandy has conducted training in both Vietnamese and English for leaders in the United States and Southeast Asia. In 2020, she and her team created an online course and taught it to business leaders at organizations such as Viettel, Nam Huong Media, VinGroup, and to nonprofit leaders through the Master’s program at Fulbright University Vietnam, Center for Healthcare Improvement and Research, Toward Transparency, and Association of Vietnam Scientists and Experts Global. 

Sandy believes that more than even, we are living in a knowledge driven and digital world. Therefore, we must expand our skill set and learn new leadership tools to be effective leaders. Through these leadership training workshops, leaders will discover their true purpose and gain the skill to maximize the potential of the people in their team, organization, and communities. 

Over the years, Sandy has received numerous awards for her outstanding public leadership, including being named Washingtonian of the Year in 2001.