Meet Bili Nguyen: Entrepreneur | Model

We had the good fortune of connecting with Bili Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Bili, what is the most important factor behind your success?
It was not an easy journey for me as an immigrant from Vietnam; I had to work even harder to get to where I am today. All I have today was from constant hard work. Throughout my career and journey, there were a lot of factors that contributed to my success, but the three I believe have had the most significant effect are: having a clear vision, strong drive, and courage to follow the path that I choose. Since I was young, I always knew the life that I wanted. At the age of 15, I envisioned my life, set goals every year, and made sure that I achieved them, even though I wasn’t sure which career path I would choose or where my journey would lead me to. The only thing that I had was the determination for success. I always dreamed big and believed in myself, which led me to many other things that I am currently able to do now. While experiencing new things every day, I encouraged all sorts of failures. I have high curiosity, so I always enjoy listen and discuss with other about their perspective and value I’ve had a strong drive to do things in a way that makes sense to me, feels right to me and works for me. I started my first job when I was 16 and started an e-commerce business when I was 17. Aside from school and work, I spent most of my time exploring different things that I found interesting such as new technology and real estate investment. Most days, I only slept around four hours, especially when I was balancing my MBA, full-time job and my side hustle. Courage is critical, as well, because I always go after what I want; it doesn’t matter how hard I know the journey will be. I start small and take consistent action towards it. I know the barriers that one has to overcome, as an immigrant in the United States, to become successful. I am the product of two cultures melted into one. So there was the time that I was struggling to define my own culture and value. It is my family’s experience as an immigrant that drives my passion for helping and inspiring others, which is the essence of success, in my opinion. In the past few years, I have been able to utilize all the skills that I’ve gained to help other immigrants, minority women and young professionals. In the future, I want to use my expertise to help more entrepreneurs with their business who come from underprivileged backgrounds as myself to start and grow their businesses.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
What excites me most is when I’m able to learn new things, generate new ideas, thoughts, or meet like-minded exciting people. I am always continually trying to become a better version of myself, every day, at its core. Currently, due to Covid-19, the majority of my projects have been put on hold. However, I am looking forward to being able to bounce back and begin to work on them. It can seem intimidating, frustrating and makes me anxious because I realize that there are so many things that I don’t know, stepping out of my comfort zone. To me, working on something you are passionate about is one of the most exceptional experiences I have ever had.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This question is a hard one for me. I am a foodie, so it hard to pick a few. My typical day with friends would be getting brunch from Mirador, Bread Winners Café & Bakery or Yolk. I am always up for a good brunch.

After brunch, I am definitely will have to get my caffeine fix. You can usually find me at La La Land Kind Café or 151 Coffee ( I recently discovered this coffee shop near my house, and I can’t stop going there) to work on my projects.

Then I would take us to get our nails done at Nails Now in Greenville Ave. It is one of the best nail salons in town.

For dinner, I am a big noodle fan, so Wabi house, Ten ramen, Pho Bac, Pho Bang is my go-to. I would end our day by going to a rooftop bar like Waterproof or Soda Bar.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wanted to give a huge shout out to my mom. Thank you for being my biggest fan and an excellent role model. My mom is the biggest supporter in my life, and it means the world to me. She is a strong, kind, independent, caring woman and a rockstar mom. Thank you for setting an excellent example for me to follow through the years. Besides my mom, I wanted to shoutout to all my friends. All of them have been there for me when I needed support, walking with me when I needed, and walking ahead of me when I needed guidance.