Commenter Spotlight: Tien Nguyen

Commenter Spotlight is a weekly interview with the people who comment on 8Asians.com – whether what they have to say is insightful, touching, humorous or controversial, they’ve earned the respect of other 8Asians.com readers.

8Asians readers, meet commenter Tien Nguyen:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from? What do you do for a living?

I’m Tien, my parents are from Vietnam and I was born and raised in Norcal. As the first in my family to be born in the US I had early presidential aspirations, then my parents wanted me to be a doctor, then an engineer (original, I know).

I then went to UCLA as a math/econ major followed by a six week Europe trip after which I was introduced to the real world and it all went downhill from there. After a few months a few friends and I got tired of it and conspired to get out of corporate America to start our own online ad agency, which is still going strong 4.5 years later and turned out to be the best decision of my/our lives.

I can also do a Rubik’s cube.

More from his interview, after the jump!

How did you find out 8Asians?

It’s been a while so I’m not sure, but it was probably at a point in my life while I was discovering my Asian identity and this blog was the perfect outlet to learn about it as well as providing an outlet to discuss it.

What kinds of posts on 8Asians do you comment on the most?

Any post that stirs an emotion in me (which isn’t easy), could be about Asians in corporate America, a heart-warming/inspiring story, or anything that I feel speaks directly to me. I’ll go out and say that anything by Tim generally fits into the categories above, I always love reading his stuff.

What has been the post on 8Asians you’ve reacted the most strongly? Are you the type of person to click BORED on a post?

As a mostly positive thinking person I limit my negativity, which includes hitting the bored button.

In terms of the post that I reacted the most to, there’s plenty but I can’t put my finger on one right now. Maybe the more recent one about Cafe Lu having to straighten up. That made me pretty angry, mainly because I never got a chance to check that place out.

What’s your Asian comfort food?

1) Pho
2) Pho
3) Phoooooooo

Or, anything that my mom makes, including her pho.

Anything else you want to add?

This is a truly enlightening blog with great ideas that’s changed the way I think about my Asian identity from the posts and discussions, even–no, especially when I don’t agree with the main ideas. Keep up the great work guys!

If you’d like to interviewed for Commenter Spotlight, make sure your 8Asians LiveFyre profile has at least ten points and contact the editors.