The Vietnamese with Kenneth Nguyen

Mia is the founder and host of Viet Boss Babe — a media and community platform for Vietnamese women, everywhere. From the diaspora to the homeland, Viet Boss Babe exists for the women who are rewriting what it means to be Vietnamese, on their own terms. Bold, Vietlish, and unapologetic — this is the space for the stories that don't always make it to the main stage. The careers being built, the...

Upcoming Headline Show: Will is headlining his biggest show yet at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco on April 24, 2026. You can find tickets in the following link: https://willpepper.komi.io/ In this episode, Ken sits down with Will Pepper (born Will Tieu). You might know him from his viral cooking videos with his "Daddy Pepper," his work managing Jimmy O. Yang’s TikTok, or as the "l...

Kevin Quach was born and raised in the Atlanta, Georgia area to Vietnamese parents. He is an Aerospace Engineer (BSAE Georgia Tech 2014) who has worked the past 3 years for Blue Origin where he tests rockets that will bring humanity to work and live in space. Kevin has previously worked at Sikorsky (Lockheed Martin) for almost 8 years, where he tested experimental helicopters for the Marines and t...

In this episode, The Vietnamese Podcast joins forces with Little Saigon Official to ask the ultimate question: Are we too obsessed with our past to build our future? Host Kenneth Nguyen, Chris, and Dana dive deep into the "Identity Loop." We discuss why the diaspora is "addicted to angst" while Vietnam is already moving at light speed, and whether our "biological pull" to t...

Welcome to The Vietnamese Podcast, hosted by Kenneth Nguyen. In this episode, we sit down with Nguyễn Owen Tangavelou, a French-Vietnamese Formula 3 (F3) driver who is on a singular mission: to become the first person of Vietnamese descent to reach the pinnacle of motorsport—Formula 1. Owen’s journey is far from typical. Unlike most F1 stars who begin karting at age 4, Owen didn't step into a...

Welcome back to The Vietnamese Podcast. In this episode, Kenneth sit down with scholar Kevin Phan to dissect one of the most radical experiments in Vietnamese history: the Tonkin Free School (Đông Kinh Nghĩa Thục). Opened in Hanoi in 1907, this school lasted only 10 months before the French colonial government shut it down—but those 300 days changed the trajectory of the nation forever. We explore...

Building a $100 million hospitality empire isn't just about good food; it’s about a relentless pursuit of "what’s next." In this episode, we sit down with Viet Nguyen, the visionary founder of KEI Concepts and a recent James Beard Award semi-finalist. From a single storefront to a portfolio of iconic brands that have redefined the Southern California dining scene, Viet has cracked the...

In this episode, we welcome back Peter from the popular channel Broke the Habit. Since we last spoke in 2024, Peter’s journey has been a whirlwind of high-stakes media jobs, intense burnout, and a profound psychological reset. Now, in 2026, he is "locking in" to content creation full-time, navigating the streets of Nha Trang and the complex emotional landscape of the Viet Kieu (Overseas Vi...

In this episode, we explore the "Stories We Carry" with a powerhouse panel of creators: Brittany Tran: Founder of Real Citrus, a film distribution company bringing diaspora stories to the big screen. Duzan Duong: Czech-Vietnamese director of Summer School 2001, sharing the unique perspective of Northern Vietnamese migration to Eastern Europe. Hien: A Hungarian-born singer-songwriter blendi...

In this episode of The Vietnamese Podcast, Kenneth sits down with Quentin J Nguyen-duy, a rising star in Hollywood known for NBC’s Hunting Party and his viral, socially conscious comedy skits. Quentin opens up about the "war of attrition" that is the acting world—revealing how he survived over 11,000 rejections across a decade by mastering a mental "Fruit Ninja" technique to slice...

From the "hoods" of Columbus, Ohio, to designing the hat LeBron James wore for his 40th birthday, Khanh Ngô has never played by the rules. In this episode, Kenneth Nguyen sits down with the founder of NGO (Nothing Goes Overnight) to discuss the grit required to make it in the cutthroat world of LA fashion. Khanh opens up about his journey through corporate giants like Levi’s and Urban Outf...

In this episode, Kenneth Nguyen sits down with actor and activist Ryan Alexander Holmes. As we navigate February 2026, Ryan shares his perspective as a "Blasian" American—the son of a Black father from the South and a Chinese immigrant mother from Taiwan. The conversation moves beyond the surface of "identity politics" to explore how race, class, and the American educational system...

In this episode, we sit down with Ethan Kelly, widely known to millions of fans as "Uc Viet". In 2026, the landscape of content creation in Vietnam is shifting, and Ethan is at the forefront of it—but his journey didn't start with likes and follows. It started with a real-life business failure in Australia and a "fate-driven" trip to a remote village in Lam Dong that turned his...

The gloves are off in this conversation between Kenneth and Dr. Thao Ha. It’s 2026, and the political climate in the United States has reached a boiling point. While many are "flooded" by the chaos of the news cycle, Dr. Ha is in the trenches, navigating the complex and often heartbreaking reality of mass deportations affecting the Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian communities. In this episod...

In this episode, Kenneth sits down with Lynda Trang Dai, for a conversation that is as vulnerable as it is refreshing. For decades, Lynda has been a household name, synonymous with provocative stage presence and the "New Wave" sound that defined a generation. But behind the racy costumes and the rockstar persona lies a grounded woman whose life is based on a surprising level of traditional...

We’re back with Whitney Da’Gail for part two of a conversation that we realized was far from over. After Kenneth and Whitney met in person in Saigon, the weight of the questions felt unanswered: What are the deep, structural similarities between Black American culture and Vietnamese culture? And why does a Black woman feel a sense of peace in a "homogenous" Asian society that she can't...

In this episode, Kenneth sits down with Kathy Uyen Nguyen, film industry veteran, acting directing, producing and and now the founder of Vietnam’s acting academy. Kathy breaks down the psychological breakdown of charisma, explaining why "The It Factor" isn't a genetic lottery but a state of being that anyone can develop, if they can navigate the cultural "rào cản" (obstacles) t...

In this episode, Kenneth sits down with Dr. Lu Le, a Navy veteran and psychiatrist who bridges a massive gap in the Vietnamese community. From serving in the military to embarking on medical missions in Vietnam, Dr. Lu offers a unique, bilingual perspective on why we struggle to talk about our feelings and how we can finally start healing. Whether you are curious about the mechanics of psychiatric...

Have you ever wondered why Vietnamese is written with a Romanized alphabet while its neighbors, China, Japan, and Korea, historically used character-based systems? In this episode, Kenneth and Professor John Phan discuss the "startup age" of the Vietnamese script. We journey back to the 17th century to discover that Chữ Quốc ngữ wasn't just a colonial imposition, but a complex collabor...

Life does not follow a single set of rules, and the “truths” shaped by personal experience do not always align with what most people believe. Some lessons only become clear after facing real-life challenges. In episode 375 of the Vietnam Innovators podcast, stepping away from its usual focus on economics, markets, and innovation, host Hao Tran speaks with podcaster Kenneth Nguyen in an open conver...

We explore a perspective rarely captured in the mainstream narrative of Southeast Asia. Join Kenneth as he sits down with Whitney Da’Gail, a Louisiana native and MBA graduate from the University of Michigan, who moved to Vietnam and discovered a world that was both shockingly foreign and deeply familiar. Whitney opens up about her journey as a Black woman navigating the streets of Hanoi and Saigon...

Join Kenneth and political theorist Kevin as they unpack Kevin's research on "Buddhist Political Theory." Was Thich Tri Quang a peace-loving monk, a communist agent, or, as Time Magazine once called him, a "Vietnamese Machiavelli"? We explore the uncomfortable contradictions of history: Why would a Buddhist monk advocate for a high-intensity American bombing campaign? How did h...

In April 1975, the world watched as South Vietnam collapsed. But for those on the deck of the USNS Kimbro, it was a desperate, chaotic, and human struggle for survival. In this episode, we bring together two sides of history that were separated for half a century. Kenneth and co-host Nam C. Kim are joined by John Irwin and Robbie Parsley, two U.S. Marines who served as security forces during Opera...

What really happened after April 30, 1975? In this reflective episode, Kenneth sits down with Claudia Krich, author of Those Who Stayed: A Vietnam Diary, one of the very few Americans, and perhaps the only white woman, who chose to remain in Vietnam after the fall of Saigon. Through firsthand diary accounts and lived experience, Claudia challenges one of the most enduring narratives of the Vietnam...

In this episode of Viet History Makers, Kenneth Nguyen sits down with Professor Kevin Pham to examine the life and times of Madame Nhu (Trần Lệ Xuân) one of the most controversial and influential figures in 20th-century Vietnamese history. Through their conversation, the episode unpacks Madame Nhu not only as the de facto First Lady of South Vietnam, but as a complex symbol of power, gender, and p...