Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month
As we celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month this May, it's the perfect time to reflect on the unique experiences and perspectives within our own team.
We sat down with Felicia Nguyen , Associate Talent Acquisition Partner at Andersen, to learn more about her diverse background and experiences both at work and in her personal life.
Tell us about your role at Andersen, and what would you say is your favorite part? I’m part of the University Relations team focused on Campus Recruiting. I hire college students for our summer enterprise internship program. I, along with Raven Jones run this program. My favorite part is final presentations. We start recruiting for our interns in September the year before, so it’s a long process. Learning what they worked on during the summer is always impressive because of what they were able to accomplish in 12 weeks!
What would you say is your favorite aspect of your culture? My favorite part (besides the food) is the resiliency and strength shown by Vietnamese people. I know many other Asian cultures resonate with this, as well. But listening to the harrowing stories of my family’s escape to a foreign country where they didn’t know the language, yet were able to embrace their new home while maintaining their heritage taught me to never forget my roots. One story that stuck with me from my dad is he made it to Minnesota in December of 1979 with nothing but the clothes he had on, flip flops and a guitar on his back.
How you embrace AAPI Heritage Month? This month means I get to celebrate the accomplishments achieved by not only those from my heritage, but most importantly my parents’ accomplishments. They are both immigrants who fled a war torn country who had to start their lives over in America when they were teenagers. Their strength and resilience has been instilled in me and I am so proud to carry on their traditions.
What are some of your favorite traditions? My favorite tradition is during the Lunar New Year. I’ll give my nephews red envelopes that contain “lucky money”. The lucky money is given to you as a wish for you to have a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year. This isn’t necessarily a tradition but being able to communicate in Vietnamese. Fortunately, this allows me to speak with elderly family members who don’t know English.
We extend our thanks to Felicia for sharing her story with us! We value opportunities like this to come together and learn more about our teammates and the AAPI communities. By embracing differences, we gain new perspectives and achieve what would have otherwise been impossible.