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| CNN's first Vietnamese voice: on the air and on the record Thursday, November 25, 2004 By Anh Do 
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Tune in, and you’ll see the woman who began appearing on the network in the spring, who seems to look directly at the viewers, her voice crisp, touched with warmth. She doesn’t stumble. She reaches out, sharing. Immediately, audiences started to notice. “I saw that there was this person who was very straightforward, with a lot of necessary information about things that I care about,” said Mark Hoang, a business analyst and a fan from Los Angeles. “She has chemistry.” He and his buddies now follow Nguyen’s broadcast, as early as 5 a.m. Pacific time. “I like the fact that there’s a familiar face, a Vietnamese face,” says Karen Lai, a college student from Denver. “I get up, I see her, finishing my homework, then continue with my classes, knowing a bit about what’s happening in the world.” In 2004, viewers from across the United States watched as Nguyen anchored portions of CNN’s coverage of the handover of sovereignty to Iraq in June. Through the summer months, she continued monitoring events and issues, contributing to extensive footage of Florida hurricanes Charley, Frances and Ivan. Nguyen is based in Atlanta, but before moving to Georgia, she worked at numerous television stations in Texas, including KTVT in Dallas, a six-year tenure that found her tracking breaking news from the Columbia space shuttle disaster to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. There, she won a regional Emmy for "Outstanding Noon Newscast." She started her career as a morning anchor and reporter at KWTX in Waco, a CBS affiliate. Nguyen, raised in the Lone Star State, was on the trail during California’s 2003 madcap gubernatorial race — which got all of the Golden State talking — serving as a freelance correspondent for E! Entertainment Television. Through her travels, she has not forgotten her roots, co-founding with her mother a nonprofit called Help the Hungry, which aids global hunger while providing humanitarian relief to the needy. Supporters return to Vietnam each year to bring medicine and supplies, visiting villages, learning and researching. Nguyen’s volunteer work earned her a spot in the Philanthropy in Texas Hall of Fame. What keeps her going? What motivates her? Nguoi Viet 2 caught up with the journalist during a rare break: NV2: When did you first appear on air on CNN? Nguyen: It was a weekend program. May 1, 2004. It was one of those moments I’ll always have on tape and I’ll always remember. NV2: Had you aspired to get there? Nguyen: You always want to be a network anchor because that’s the top tier. Did I specifically set out to be a CNN anchor? No, not necessarily. I wanted to be a good journalist, to tell stories. I know a lot of people say that, but I really mean it. I wanted to make a difference. NV2: What exactly led you to journalism? Nguyen: I always thought I would be a lawyer. Being Asian American, you drift to that — something that is a wonderful career and something of prestige. I tried working in an attorney’s office in Arlington and I did not have a passion for it. I thought back and remembered that I really loved debate in high school, loved to write. And you know what, I went to the University of Texas and never looked back. NV2: What about your parents’ reaction to your career choice? Nguyen: My family was so excited that I was going to become an attorney. I remember going to them and telling them that ‘I’m going to become a journalist,’ and they said, ‘You’re going to be what?’ They were skeptical... You don’t make much money initially when you're getting started, they thought, but I said: ‘I’ve got to give it a go. Hopefully, it will work out.’ NV2: And how have you changed as a journalist with each stint? Nguyen: I think in every new stage of your life, no matter how large or small that step may be, you grow with experience, and the people around you. NV2: What’s been your favorite story, out of all the stories you’ve covered? Nguyen: One of my favorites was about a little boy who needed cornea implants. He was going blind. And because of that story, a doctor in Dallas did the procedure. For free. I was just very proud of that. NV2: How about your stories from Vietnam? Nguyen: Well, the first time I went back, it had nothing to do with being a journalist. I left in 1975, I was just a child... I got to see where I was born. In succeeding times, (reporting on the deadly flooding along the Mekong Delta), what touched me was the fact that entire families were literally trapped inside their huts in waist-high waters. Here in the U.S. there are organizations that can come and take you out by boat. In Vietnam because of the poverty, because of the lack of help, it’s a helpless situation. And these are human beings. These are people who have dreams and hopes and children who they want a better life for. When I looked in the faces of people struggling, I thought that could have been me, had I not been able to come to America. NV2: How do you get sources to open up who don’t like to talk to reporters? Nguyen: Having to talk to a family who has just lost someone, for example, I think that this was a person with a life, and all I want to do is try to honor that as best as possible. Get a real face behind the name. NV2: Do you have a strategy for being in front of the camera? Nguyen: I would like to think that I’m a good storyteller, getting information from people who have wonderful stories to tell. NV2: How do you cope covering difficult stories? Nguyen: I like to think that while I’m a journalist, I’m a human, too. And I feel that with the loss of lives — with the tornadoes that hit the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex), with the shuttle disaster, with a church shooting — there was one that was the worst in Texas history. I was one of the first reporters on the scene, and seeing the mass chaos, families scrambling to find their relatives. You don’t forget that. I have faith in God, and that helps me a lot. That gives me the ‘get up and go’ despite the tragedy. There are stories that have a good ending, that make you smile. They can (also) make you cry a little, but it’s not all bad news. NV2: Getting back to Vietnam, tell us about your charity. Nguyen: Help the Hungry is really a labor of love. My mother has always reminded me of where we come from, and we have a personal connection. We have family there. I can’t really take full credit for it. This is something that my mom really wanted. With the blessing that we have in our lives, this is our way of sharing it. I know that Vietnamese, when they go back to Vietnam, they personally pack items to bring. Instead of doing it on a personal level, we figured if we have more people joining us, we could do better. It’s essential. | |||||
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