so I want to start off with sharing a
story it’s about a couple who grew up in
Vietnam the man’s name is bond he was a
country boy who grew up in a big family
the woman’s name was Kim she grew up in
the city and the heart of Saigon city
boy or a city girl meets the country boy
and they fall in love and they would
eventually get married fall in love and
have children but their youth their
stories unique in the sense that their
country was in a state of war the north
and south were divided bond later joined
the Navy and he would fight with the US
troops and as we know how the Vietnam
War ended they lost the day the war
ended bond was captured into a labor
camp by the Communists there he would
wear Maine for three years and the day
he was released he fled with his wife
Kim his daughter tram on a fishing boat
from Vietnam to Malaysia with many other
families they would take shelter and
refuge there and there they would wait
patiently for eight months until they
got the good news from two families in
Rochester New York that they would
sponsor them and help them start their
lives all over again I’m proud to say
that this couple are my parents they
have a courageous journey of inspiration
they started their lives all over again
and left with nothing but the clothes
that they had on their back they embrace
a new culture a new language a new life
for their family and so they instilled
in me this grit and this ambition in
this tenacity to always dream big to
always trust in every experience no
matter how scary the circumstances are
and to always lead with your heart
because that’s what matters most and so
through their inspiration it filled me
to start a passion project here in
Rochester called sriracha says a food
and drink blog that would help others
fall in love with the city and would
highlight others and shine a positive
light in Rochester and so thus began my
creative journey but I want to sit on
that word creative for a second what
does it really mean to be creative
I always thought of being creative in
the more traditional sense tied to
theater type music type of the arts and
yeah growing up I played a small role
on the fourth grade production of Beauty
and the Beast I still know all the words
and I played the trumpet all throughout
middle school which I actually found in
my parents basement last Christmas let’s
just say they were not impressed
so it’s they’ve to say that I’m pretty
sure I didn’t excel in either of those
areas and with the blog it was the first
time in my life where I actually started
to explore that word creativity but with
that creative process as I embarked on
it
I started experienced the highs and the
lows of it not only having the struggle
to identify with that word creative but
also the journey itself and to be
truthful the struggle is real my friends
so it’s real in the sense that if we
think about the world that we live in
today it’s a very noisy cluttered
saturated world with so many different
mediums you’ve got social media you’ve
got new brands new businesses new
websites and blogs starting new every
single day and one of my biggest fears
when I started this blog is how am I
going to stand out
who is going to listen to me and how are
they going to hear me I’m just this
little Vietnamese girl posting pictures
of food hoping that people like it and
so I was worried that I wasn’t going to
measure up that my work wasn’t going to
be good enough compared to others and I
started feeling this fear in my head and
this inner self critic asking myself am
I really gonna be good enough and that
fear only intensified when I thought
about the highlight reel the highlight
reel for those of you who know social
media it happens all the time
you think of social media and you think
of the snippets of everyone’s life that
they share the most positive aspects
when it’s the dead of winter there are
this luxurious trip to the Cayman
Islands or they just got that big
promotion when you just lost your job
and so it can be difficult and you start
to feel inadequate and discouraged in
your process because you start to
compare your path with others and so I
fell victim to this highlight reel and
started comparing myself to others and
feeling like seeing their business bloom
and why am I feeling so left behind but
that highlight reel can be deceptive it
only shows the finished product the
masterpiece so you see this press
today what you don’t see is the behind
the scenes where I’m changing the font
50 million times so that you guys will
like it or that I’m doing the ugly cry
in the bathroom when I’m in a creative
funk and I’m feeling uninspired you
don’t see the unglamorous behind the
scenes and you don’t see the
battleground in my head where I’m
feeling like I’m not gonna be good
enough to share with the world so I want
to share with you guys four ways that
I’ve been able to overcome that feeling
of not being good enough the first one
is stop comparing yourself to the hustle
reel or to the highlight reel so as I
said before when you compare your behind
the scenes to the highlight reel you’re
basically comparing the worst of you to
the best of everyone else so what did I
do
I disconnected I’d go for a hike and I
meditate with myself and remember so
just take pictures for fun to feel alive
in that moment and to remember that my
path doesn’t have to be the same as
everyone else’s number two is focus on
what matters focus on what makes you
excited why did you start this project
in the first place I started to think
about different sources of information
or inspiration and think about ways to
get excited again and so that it
wouldn’t be so distracted by what
everyone else was doing
number three is fine your creative
circle so I learned the hard way I
bottled up a lot of feelings inside and
I started to talk to other people I
started to understand they’re doing the
ugly cry too and so I didn’t feel so
much alone and we could share our
vulnerabilities we could share our ideas
and we could really learn from each
other and leverage off this inspiration
and the support system and number four
is my favorite it’s on your voice and I
think your story your voice is the most
powerful weapon that you have in this
world it’s gonna be the key to how
you’re gonna break through this noisy
differentiate a cluttered world and so
that was the key for me to always stay
true to who I am
so these ways have helped me
tremendously I think about the person
who I was two years ago – the person
that I am today
and I’m a much more self-aware confident
and stronger version of myself I think
about that word creative and while I may
not be the leading lady and Beauty and
the Beast
or I might not be a professional trumpet
player I’m many different things and
creative can take on many different
meetings
it can mean I’m an optimist I’m an
encourage or a dreamer a foodie a
blogger and even creative but the most
important description that I want to
leave you guys with today is that I’m
enough that today standing right here I
don’t need to feel like I’m on the same
path as everyone else that I don’t need
a standing ovation from you guys
although a few claps would be
appreciated I don’t need a million likes
on Instagram to feel validated I just
need to know that the moment that I have
right now that I’m content in it and
what I need to know is that I’m going to
dream big I’m gonna trust in every
experience I’m always going to lead with
my heart and being right here right now
I know that it’s exactly where I’m
supposed to be and that’s enough for me
thank you guys so much
[Applause]
story it’s about a couple who grew up in
Vietnam the man’s name is bond he was a
country boy who grew up in a big family
the woman’s name was Kim she grew up in
the city and the heart of Saigon city
boy or a city girl meets the country boy
and they fall in love and they would
eventually get married fall in love and
have children but their youth their
stories unique in the sense that their
country was in a state of war the north
and south were divided bond later joined
the Navy and he would fight with the US
troops and as we know how the Vietnam
War ended they lost the day the war
ended bond was captured into a labor
camp by the Communists there he would
wear Maine for three years and the day
he was released he fled with his wife
Kim his daughter tram on a fishing boat
from Vietnam to Malaysia with many other
families they would take shelter and
refuge there and there they would wait
patiently for eight months until they
got the good news from two families in
Rochester New York that they would
sponsor them and help them start their
lives all over again I’m proud to say
that this couple are my parents they
have a courageous journey of inspiration
they started their lives all over again
and left with nothing but the clothes
that they had on their back they embrace
a new culture a new language a new life
for their family and so they instilled
in me this grit and this ambition in
this tenacity to always dream big to
always trust in every experience no
matter how scary the circumstances are
and to always lead with your heart
because that’s what matters most and so
through their inspiration it filled me
to start a passion project here in
Rochester called sriracha says a food
and drink blog that would help others
fall in love with the city and would
highlight others and shine a positive
light in Rochester and so thus began my
creative journey but I want to sit on
that word creative for a second what
does it really mean to be creative
I always thought of being creative in
the more traditional sense tied to
theater type music type of the arts and
yeah growing up I played a small role
on the fourth grade production of Beauty
and the Beast I still know all the words
and I played the trumpet all throughout
middle school which I actually found in
my parents basement last Christmas let’s
just say they were not impressed
so it’s they’ve to say that I’m pretty
sure I didn’t excel in either of those
areas and with the blog it was the first
time in my life where I actually started
to explore that word creativity but with
that creative process as I embarked on
it
I started experienced the highs and the
lows of it not only having the struggle
to identify with that word creative but
also the journey itself and to be
truthful the struggle is real my friends
so it’s real in the sense that if we
think about the world that we live in
today it’s a very noisy cluttered
saturated world with so many different
mediums you’ve got social media you’ve
got new brands new businesses new
websites and blogs starting new every
single day and one of my biggest fears
when I started this blog is how am I
going to stand out
who is going to listen to me and how are
they going to hear me I’m just this
little Vietnamese girl posting pictures
of food hoping that people like it and
so I was worried that I wasn’t going to
measure up that my work wasn’t going to
be good enough compared to others and I
started feeling this fear in my head and
this inner self critic asking myself am
I really gonna be good enough and that
fear only intensified when I thought
about the highlight reel the highlight
reel for those of you who know social
media it happens all the time
you think of social media and you think
of the snippets of everyone’s life that
they share the most positive aspects
when it’s the dead of winter there are
this luxurious trip to the Cayman
Islands or they just got that big
promotion when you just lost your job
and so it can be difficult and you start
to feel inadequate and discouraged in
your process because you start to
compare your path with others and so I
fell victim to this highlight reel and
started comparing myself to others and
feeling like seeing their business bloom
and why am I feeling so left behind but
that highlight reel can be deceptive it
only shows the finished product the
masterpiece so you see this press
today what you don’t see is the behind
the scenes where I’m changing the font
50 million times so that you guys will
like it or that I’m doing the ugly cry
in the bathroom when I’m in a creative
funk and I’m feeling uninspired you
don’t see the unglamorous behind the
scenes and you don’t see the
battleground in my head where I’m
feeling like I’m not gonna be good
enough to share with the world so I want
to share with you guys four ways that
I’ve been able to overcome that feeling
of not being good enough the first one
is stop comparing yourself to the hustle
reel or to the highlight reel so as I
said before when you compare your behind
the scenes to the highlight reel you’re
basically comparing the worst of you to
the best of everyone else so what did I
do
I disconnected I’d go for a hike and I
meditate with myself and remember so
just take pictures for fun to feel alive
in that moment and to remember that my
path doesn’t have to be the same as
everyone else’s number two is focus on
what matters focus on what makes you
excited why did you start this project
in the first place I started to think
about different sources of information
or inspiration and think about ways to
get excited again and so that it
wouldn’t be so distracted by what
everyone else was doing
number three is fine your creative
circle so I learned the hard way I
bottled up a lot of feelings inside and
I started to talk to other people I
started to understand they’re doing the
ugly cry too and so I didn’t feel so
much alone and we could share our
vulnerabilities we could share our ideas
and we could really learn from each
other and leverage off this inspiration
and the support system and number four
is my favorite it’s on your voice and I
think your story your voice is the most
powerful weapon that you have in this
world it’s gonna be the key to how
you’re gonna break through this noisy
differentiate a cluttered world and so
that was the key for me to always stay
true to who I am
so these ways have helped me
tremendously I think about the person
who I was two years ago – the person
that I am today
and I’m a much more self-aware confident
and stronger version of myself I think
about that word creative and while I may
not be the leading lady and Beauty and
the Beast
or I might not be a professional trumpet
player I’m many different things and
creative can take on many different
meetings
it can mean I’m an optimist I’m an
encourage or a dreamer a foodie a
blogger and even creative but the most
important description that I want to
leave you guys with today is that I’m
enough that today standing right here I
don’t need to feel like I’m on the same
path as everyone else that I don’t need
a standing ovation from you guys
although a few claps would be
appreciated I don’t need a million likes
on Instagram to feel validated I just
need to know that the moment that I have
right now that I’m content in it and
what I need to know is that I’m going to
dream big I’m gonna trust in every
experience I’m always going to lead with
my heart and being right here right now
I know that it’s exactly where I’m
supposed to be and that’s enough for me
thank you guys so much
[Applause]
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