Likely the last blog post that I will do in Omaha. I spent 10 years of my life here. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by emotions, the most dominant of which is gratitude.

I did not come from money. My dad stopped going to school in grade 3. None of my uncles and aunties went to college. My mom had a good job, but was told to quite and stay home when I was 7 and has been a housewife since. Luckily, my parents always had a vision and focused on my education. When it was time to go to high school, I applied to the High School for the Gifted with maths as concentration. I missed the cut from the entrance examination by about 0.5 or 1 point. Luckily, I got accepted into the Physics class. In my high school, it was normal for kids to talk about going overseas to study. That’s where I got the inspiration. I had never thought of going overseas before. I just didn’t think it was possible. They opend my eyes to the possibility.

I dedicated my time to studying English. I didn’t pass the entrance exam for Singaporean universities. My family didn’t have money to send me to schools in US, Canada or anywhere. I was not good enough to earn a full scholarship. Then, for whatever, I came across Finland, which offered tuition-free yet great education. I passed the entrance exam for a trade school in Lahti. But I wanted to go to Aalto University, so I got an SAT score. My score was not enough to get me to the biggest campus in the capital, but enough to get me to the Mikkeli campus and that’s where I went.

In Lahti and Mikkeli, I got the first taste of how hard and valuable money was. I worked on a strawberry farm in the summer for money. The routine was that a few of us got picked up in a van at 4am, driven to a farm and worked till 4pm. We also delivered newspapers. Back then, we were assigned different papers and fliers. We had to organize them into packages, put them on our bikes and negotiated with the hilly streets to deliver packages to houses and apartments. If we were lucky, we got to do both the strawberry picking and newspapers delivering on the same date. It was not easy, but man, looking back, it was fun do it with friends and it was great as a life lesson.

After my bachelor’s degree, I came back to Vietnam. Reality hit. It was not easy to find a good job. At least not for me. I blamed everyone and pretty much got an entitlement mindset. Talk about youth! I followed a friend to a Startup Grind event and met a guy who came back from studying in the US. We became close. One day, I complained to him about why I didn’t get all the good jobs and how I was a victim. He looked at me and said something along the line of (I can’t remember it verbatim): who do you think you are? You are nobody. If you want something, you have to earn it. If you don’t get what you want, maybe it is you that’s the problem. It was tough and bitter medicine, but the patient needed it. It set me up for my journey in the US.

In Mikkeli, I met a few professors from University of Nebraska in Omaha and a couple of friends who later did their exchange at UNO. One (I later fell out with this person and we are no longer friends) referred me to a teaching assistant at UNO which allowed me to study without tuition and even paid me a monthly stipend. It was she who referred me to a job at FNBO, where I spent the last 9 years. Ironically, the same person did things that had a (small) role in me leaving for another chapter.

I met a lot of great people at FNBO, some of which became mentors and friends. In 2021, there was a few Innovation projects. Those chosen to lead such projects were allowed to recruit others from different departments. I chose one that looked the most interesting to me which was about fintech. I was asked to research a couple of topics and I just did the best I could. But that intiative led me to meet some wonderful people whom I will consider friends for a very very long time, if not forever.

Every time I feel down and the victim mindset starts to show up, I remember how lucky I have been. If any previous event had turned out differently, I might not have been where I am today. Things could have been better or worse, I don’t know. But the love and reactions the past two weeks were really something that I am proud of. My wife said: we must have done something right. So I am happy the way my life turned out. I am grateful for the dots and the connection out of those dots.

No matter what happens, Omaha, you have been wonderful. You are home and we are eternally grateful. Thank you!