Never forget where you came from.
2026 marks 10 years in Vietnam and 10 years of Vietcetera.
The version of myself from 10 years ago and the version sitting here today?
Totally different people.
Different city, different career, different dreams — built one decision at a time.
But this past week reminded me that some things don't change.
I got to hang out with my best friend from high school (and his dad) and my best friend from Brown — two people who knew me long before anything from Vietnam.
One is now crushing it as a fashion content creator (@andrewpolo_ ), the other is living his best life out in Vancouver. We picked up right where we left off, like no time had passed at all.
That's the thing about friendships from your most formative years and from home: the years stretch them, but they don't break them.
Grateful for the journey. Grateful for the people who've been there since the beginning.
Here's to the next 10. 🇻🇳
10 years ago, I had just moved to Vietnam.
Vietcetera also started soon after.
23 years old, fresh from university and only a couple years of work experience to show for.
I accepted a job offer to work for 500 Startups, a venture capital firm, and was thrown into the deep end not knowing what to expect and with few contacts in Vietnam.
Somehow 10 years later I'm still here.
And Vietcetera is about to enter a new era. We never thought we'd build a media company that would last this long.
Throughout 2026, we'll be introducing new initiatives that look ahead.
We'll also honor our past milestones.
Think original logo revival and retro month, best-of-vault unlock, Where Are They Now series, and much more.
Thank you to everyone who has followed us along this journey to bring Vietnam to the world, and the world to Vietnam. A mission that has never been more important to Vietnam's future.
This consumer healthcare company only started 6 months ago.
And it’s already the market leader in Vietnam.
How?
Opella officially launched as an independent company after the rebranding of the consumer healthcare business of pharmaceutical household name Sanofi in May 2025.
Known for its trusted brands, including Enterogermina, Calcium Corbiere, Telfast, Lactacyd, and more.
With a world-class plant and R&D center in Ho Chi Minh City (who knew?!), Vietnam is one of the company’s key strategic markets.
We hosted Opella’s Country Head for Vietnam Valentina Belcheva in our latest episode of the Vietnam Innovators podcast to learn more.
@vietnam_innovators_digest
View the pod here: /watch?v=zeFQbaFQIAc&t
Four months ago, one of my all-time favorite former employees reached out.
She needed help.
It had been 6 months since she started looking for work and couldn’t find the right opportunity.
She asked for introductions to our network to see if anyone would need someone of her profile.
I reached out to a few folks, but decided to also make a post on LinkedIn sharing about what she did for us.
On the same day Philippe Pham, the Managing Director of Accenture, saw my post and decided to reach out to her for a job opportunity.
Three months later, Truc just passed her probation as part of the PMO team at Accenture Vietnam.
Keep close to your best people!
You never know where they end up.
So happy for her and team Accenture.
Our second global reader event in Tokyo is in the books!
Featuring more than 200+ attendees at the venue in Akasaka, we hosted a reader event alongside a networking night.
Our speakers included artist Trịnh Lữ, inventor Trần Ngọc Phúc, and more.
As part of the Vietcetera Open series where we spotlight stories of inspirational Vietnamese voices worldwide, this annual event in Tokyo holds a special place for me as it was our first global event back in 2024.
We’re looking forward to bringing this format to other cities where we have readers!
Thank you to our partners, FPT Software Japan, Solara & Co, Vietjet, REAZON, Vilasia, Tokyu Corporation, Money Forward, and Nén Tokyo for their support of the program.
Shoutout to our community partners FTU Alumni in Japan, Cộng đồng DHS Đông Du, VYSA, VANJ, OV Japan, and Legacy Brand.
CEO của Vietcetera (@vietcetera ) Hảo Trần (@haontran ) đang kiến tạo một nền tảng truyền thông toàn cầu, đưa những câu chuyện kinh tế, văn hoá đại chúng và những con người tiêu biểu đến với hàng triệu khán giả. Là một trong những người tiên phong đầu tư vào podcast, anh cùng đội ngũ của mình đang dẫn dắt làn sóng sáng tạo nội dung mang dấu ấn Việt.
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Vietcetera CEO—Hảo Trần (@haontran ) is building a global media platform that puts Vietnamese stories in front of millions. As one of the creators of Vietnam’s first professional podcast series, he and his team are driving a new wave of quality digital content—made in Vietnam.
Photographer: Tang Tang @tangtangstudio
Editorial Director: Dan Q. Dao @danqdao
Creative Director: Lee Khuat @leekhuat
Managing Editor: Santh Vo @santhvv
Producer: Martin Mai @martin.nnii
Editor: Richard Le @hatn_sun
Stylist: Phạm Minh Trí @torypofficial
Hair: Lam Duy
Makeup: Dinh Tran @dinh.trn
Fashion: Gian Saigon, CAOSTU, FOURTYHREE, Victim Of The Prime, T-REDX, Merino Atelier
Photo Assistant: IconT, Lê Bảo
Production Assistants: Dory Mai @mhuynhtran , Dylan Nguyen @lii.lannn
Stylist Assistant Oanh Ng @__hngoanh Tyran @tyranxng
Videographer: Barack Huy @barack_huy
BTS: Alex Yem @alexxyem
Đọc bài viết tại website Esquire Vietnam. Link in bio.
#esquirevn
Two of my favorite hobbies both involve having no internet reception.
Long, quiet flights. And being on the mountain.
On this trip I met a new friend.
A CFO of a tech company in Amsterdam. First Croatian / Vietnamese American duo to summit Gran Paradiso, Italy’s highest peak (aside from Mt Blanc)
First time technical climbing with ropes and crampons. 48 hours of focus.
Had a great time talking finance startups and venture investing. All the goods and bads that come with it.
Even discovered some new found clarity about what I want to do this year and next, on this climb.
Not many other opportunities to meet new people with zero distractions. All while having a shared purpose to reach to the top.
Ciao!
Four years after dropping a global viral rap music video.
We were all left wondering.
Does former US Ambassador to Vietnam Dan Kritenbrink still remember his rap lines?
Before leaving his post, Vietcetera Media collaborated with the US State Department and rapper @wowynguyen to produce a 3-minute rap video celebrating the growing US-VN relationship.
In this podcast episode, Dan returns to Vietnam as a Partner at The Asia Group.
We talk about trade, the US-VN relationship, and how Vietnamese companies can stay on top of trends during this rapidly changing time.
The episode drops on all @vietnam_innovators_digest@vietcetera channels soon.
Subscribe for updates: /@vietnaminnovatorsdigest
1am midnight hike, summit and descend by 10am
My second overnight mountain hike - first one was Mt. Kilimanjaro
“He who climbs Mt. Fuji is a wise man; he who climbs it twice is a fool.”
This saying applies to many things in life
You have one shot so make it worth it!
✅ Mt. Fuji
This 17-year old from Hanoi cold emailed 300 directors in Vietnam.
He got the majority of them to reply.
He met with 20 of them during his six weeks in Saigon, despite having no agenda, including Hoang Thi Kim Dzung, Brook Taylor, Binh Tran, and myself.
He even secured an internship with one of them through a cold email, a boutique investment bank.
He used SaaS tools to find emails of everyone he wanted to meet. He kept his own personal CRM to remind himself of when to reach out.
He also shared with me an insight I didn't realize:
Most high school and university students today in Vietnam aren't familiar with what a cold email is.
Maybe it's a cultural thing or maybe it's a skills gap. He told me that at 5 years old, his mom was encouraging him to introduce himself to strangers when they would go out to improve his English and confidence to approach people.
All young people should educate themselves like he did about communication.
Nevertheless, one of the most remarkable 17 year olds I have ever met.
He didn't ask for anything in the meeting, he just wanted to meet and offered to buy me breakfast.
Khoa Duong, any company would be lucky to have him!
I need him on my sales team!
A great way to start a Monday morning to a busy week.
Rapid travel photo mashup since late last year.
Cairo, Egypt - dry. grey. a truly big, chaotic city. full of history.
Marrakech, Tangier Morocco - discovered my world favorite breakfast cuisine.
Seoul - Coldplay still the best to watch live.
Hiroshima - atomic bomb museum.
Mongolia - a delightful discovery. Cold, very.
Beijing airport - hoping Saigon’s new airport can be similar in efficiency. And design.
🌏 This week, I had the honor of speaking at the International Migrants Day event hosted by the International Organization for Migration Vietnam team at the Green One United Nations House.
It was an inspiring experience to share the stage with Tròn Mama, a content creator who returned to Vietnam after living in Canada, and Huynh Nhu, the first Vietnamese female footballer to play club football abroad. Their stories of resilience and connection resonated deeply with me.
As a Vietnamese-American who has worked the past eight years working and building in Vietnam, I reflected on the unique challenges and opportunities of bridging two worlds.
Navigating cultural nuances, adapting to a fast-evolving market, and finding community here have shaped my journey in ways I never imagined.
This event was a powerful reminder of how migration and identity intersect to create stories worth sharing and celebrating. Thank you to the IOM team for bringing us together to highlight the power of global connections and the contributions migrants make to Vietnam and beyond. 🙏✨
#InternationalMigrantsDay #Vietnam #EveryStep
