Minh Thanh Nguyen is a 22-year old Vietnamese-American male. He is a practicing Catholic born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana speaking both Vietnamese and English. He is the Executive Director of the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association of New Orleans (VAYLA-NO), a non profit, community-based organization, developing youth programs. Minh is a youth representative for the Vietnamese-American communities. He currently serves as the External Vice President of the Union of North American Vietnamese Student Association (uNAVSA) and was one of the Executive Directors of this past year’s uNAVSA-4 conference. He graduated from Loyola University of New Orleans with a double major in Management and Marketing and was involved with the Loyola Asian Student Organization and Vietnamese American Community in Louisiana. He has been a long-term advocate in creating a voice for Asian Americans in the Gulf Coast region.

I was informed of Minh’s achievements in the community and his dedication to the Vietnamese youth from my brother when telling him of my newly-assigned art project. My brother had worked with Minh in a convention; so, they were on first name basis. He set up a meeting so I could interview Minh. At the meeting, I was so astonished by Minh’s enthusiasm, ambitions, and accomplishments for the community that I instantly knew he would be the perfect candidate for my project.