My name is Diệu Hiền T. Nguyễn, but you can call me Hiền or Mindy .

I was born in Huế, Vietnam, and came to the U.S. at seventeen with a head full of questions and a heart split between two countries. I became a mother young - before I even fully understood who I was. I fell in love too fast, held on too long, and learned through heartbreak what it means to outgrow a version of love that once felt like home.

I didn’t plan to be in tech. Or leadership. Or America. But life has a way of pushing you where it needs you. I worked my way up, one role at a time - from admin to product owner to architect to leader. I carved a space in rooms where I didn’t always feel I belonged. I became known for being both strategic and soft, technical and heart-led. I didn’t climb a ladder. I built one.

And still, behind the titles, I was carrying things. Grief. Exhaustion. A sense that I was constantly shape-shifting to be palatable. I was good at adapting, but it cost me parts of myself. I buried my art. My writing. My voice. Until I couldn’t anymore.

This blog is my unburying.

I’ve traveled to over 40+ countries, searching for meaning in cultures and quiet corners of the world. But I’ve also wandered through deserts inside myself - places no one else could see. What I’ve learned is this: healing doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in layers. In stories. In music. In gardens. In conversations like this one.

Here, I write about what it means to live fully while carrying the weight of all that came before. I write about motherhood, identity, trauma, PMDD, womanhood, leadership, leaving, longing, beginning again. I write because I know what it feels like to sit in the dark and need just one person to say: me too.

If you’re here, maybe you’re longing for something deeper. Not just answers, but reflection. Not just inspiration, but truth. If so, you are in the right place. This is my soul journey - and I’m honored to share it with you.

Hiền