We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Nessa Nguyễn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Nessa below.

Nessa, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The biggest risk I ever took was actually the one that started my creative career. I didn’t have the traditional college path that most people do (4 years, one major, one college). My mother is a first-generation Vietnamese immigrant, meaning that if I wanted to pursue anything that was deemed not lucrative, it was a cardinal sin. She had a whole path laid out for me, go to Pharmacy school, become a pharmacist, open a pharmacy and I’d be set for life. A whole lifetime of expectations and pressuring led me to my first college semester as a pharmacy major. It took a huge toll on my mental health at the time as it was clear that it wasn’t what I wanted to do. So it came down to choosing a path that my mom had planned for me, or choosing a path where I had no clue what was in store for me and figure it out as I go. It was either choose my mom or myself, and in the end I chose myself. I flunked out of my first and last semester of Pharmacy school and then went to community college for three semesters where I took as many art classes as I could. I finally ended up at my final college and graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from SUNY Purchase. This decision put a huge rift between my family and I but it is one I will never regret.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi, I’m a designer and illustrator born and raised in Brooklyn, New York! Some if not all of my work focuses on the cultural identity around growing up in a Vietnamese-American first-generation immigrant household. Most of my clients are non-profits or businesses that push forward underrepresented voices within the Asian-American community. It’s my personal way of supporting my community in the ways that I can.

I’ve had an interest in the arts ever since I was a child, but growing up in the household that I did, a lucrative career was priority above anything else and even considering a career in the arts was a cardinal sin (try fighting with an immigrant Vietnamese women and you’ll see what I mean). My first major was actually Pharmacy due to being pressured by my mom, so it eventually came down to choosing a path that was set out by my parents (opening a Pharmacy and being ‘set for life’) or pursue a path where the road was unknown but I would be going towards something I wanted. I flunked out of Pharmacy school that semester and then took art classes at my local community college. Eventually, I ended up transferring again and majoring in Graphic Design! My day job is working with different startups to help tell a story from the ground up. I do that from 10am-6pm, and then from 6pm onwards I work on my illustration gigs. One client that I’m proud of is building the brand for is Lunar Hard Seltzer, it’s just so cool to see something you’ve worked on be carried in multiple stores across the U.S.! With illustration, one client I loved working with was Dr. Martens – I’ve been wearing docs since high school so I made my teenage self proud by having them come full circle.

Outside of brand work, my illustration work exists in art prints and books. More specifically, risograph prints! FYI, a risograph machine is a printer that only print up to two colors at a time using soy-based ink. Unlike an inkjet printer, this machine prints the colors one by one using bright, fluorescent inks and usually adds this grainy texture to prints and that people (including me) seems to love. I also have two books; “How Do You Say Your Last Name?” which is a coloring book on growing up Asian-American, and “Ăn Chung: Loving In Vietnamese” which is a cookbook of 12 Vietnamese recipes paired with the stories of the times I’ve shared them with my loved ones.

All of my work has one cohesive message – and that it’s important to nourish cultural identity in whichever ways that you can. It’s been both healing for me and the people that have taken the time to view my work. I’ve seen so many folks resonate with my story and feel represented or seen within my work, and it is because of that I am able to continue talking about Vietnamese culture knowing that someone out there sees themselves within me. We’re all on this journey together :)

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

The best lesson I’ve learned and advice that I would actually give to my younger self is: chill. I cared so much about my success in relation others or lack thereof that I wasn’t grateful for the blessings that I already had. Constantly comparing myself to my peers took a huge toll on me mentally and I just wasn’t fair to myself or gave myself the grace of being human. I set unrealistic standards for myself because of this and again, I was not focusing on the opportunities that I already had but rather what I could have. I think truly think this line of thinking comes from being raised in a first-generation household since you are taught from day one get validation through your achievements, and because of that nothing will ever be good enough to your standards. You are always chasing the next thing and once you get the achievement you were after, you’re left with “Okay, what’s next?” I had this obsession to be better but ultimately the only person I was trying to prove anything to was myself. A few years into my career I’ve slowly began to unlearn and realize that opportunities will flow to you with you just simply living life. So yea, don’t be so hard on yourself, don’t sweat the small stuff, and have fun! You only have one life so you might as well create work that’s the most authentic to yourself and doors will naturally open for you.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

So when I’m truly stuck in an artist’s block – one thing I love to do is to return to the things that inspired me in the first place. Ghibli films! More particularly Kiki’s Delivery Service. In this movie, a young witch moves to a new city and has trouble finding her footing. Eventually, she loses confidence in herself and her powers fade away – she takes a break from working and eventually regains her confidence and powers – her powers were with her all along! Long story short, it really spoke to me since we live in a society where we are constantly expected to output work as creatives. The best thing you can do is to nourish and take care of yourself. These films are really what stuck with me watching them as a child, there is so much beauty in this life and yes, having a passion is amazing, but you can really miss what life has to offer you if you get too lost in it. Whenever I’m lost, I watch a Ghibli movie and I think to myself “Of course! That was the answer all along.”

Contact Info:

• Website: nessanguyen.net
• Instagram: @nessafiesta
• Other: https://nessafiesta.bigcartel.com/