Vicky Nguyen on Her Immigrant Story and A Love Letter to America

Making Space with Hoda Kotb

NBC News

Health & Fitness, Mental Health, Society & Culture, Spirituality, Nbc News, Education, Motivation, Nbc, Today Show, Daily Boost, Self-improvement, Hoda, Today, Self Help, Make Space, The Today Show, Making Space, Feel Good, Making Space With Hoda Kotb, Inspiration, Hoda Kotb, Self Improvement

5 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Vicky Nguyen is the NBC News chief consumer investigative correspondent. In her new memoir, "Boat Baby", she shares her family's harrowing story of fleeing Vietnam in 1980, five years after the fall of Saigon. Along the way, Nguyen's family relied on smugglers, encountered pirates, and eventually lived in a refugee camp on a beach in Malaysia, all while she was less than a year old. Her family ultimately immigrated to the U.S., and she says her parents embraced the opportunity to give her a "great American childhood". Nguyen opened up to Hoda about her decision to share her story. Through all the ups and downs of assimilation, Nguyen says her book is "a love letter to America" - and to her parents.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Have you ever known somebody for years? And then suddenly you find something out about their lives and you
0:12.8	wonder to yourself, how is it possible? This person has this rich of a story and I had absolutely no
0:19.5	idea. Well, that's exactly what happened between my
0:22.8	colleague and friend, Vicky Wynne and me one day at the Today Show. You probably know Vicky
0:28.1	just the way I did. She's an anchor and correspondent in NBC News. She's smart. She's quick and she's
0:33.4	one hell of a journalist. But the storyline of her life is far more complex than any story
0:39.5	she's told on TV. When Vicky was just eight months old, her parents fled Vietnam in the
0:44.8	dead of night. What would unfold in the days, months, and years to come is almost unimaginable.
0:52.0	Deciding to leave for America is one thing. Learning how to live as an American is another.
0:58.0	Vicki's life story is layered, it's complicated, and beautiful. It's one of triumph and perseverance.
1:04.8	And now for the first time, it is detailed beautifully in her new memoir. It's called Boat Baby.
1:13.0	This conversation will resonate with anyone who has ever felt that they have one foot in one place and one foot in another.
1:18.7	I cannot tell you how in awe I am of my friend Vicky. I come into this conversation intrigued
1:25.0	and hungry to learn more, and I hope you do too. I'm Hoda Kotb.
1:28.9	Welcome to my podcast, Making Space. So as I'm looking at Vicki Wen right now, I keep thinking
1:43.4	to myself, have you ever in your life, and think about this if you're listening, sat next to someone or known someone for years and realized that all the while they've had this incredible story inside that they never shared?
1:56.9	Vicki's one of these people, and I'm saying this in front of you, who is so much about the person
2:02.4	who she's with, she asks a million questions, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
2:05.5	So one day I'm sitting with Vicky, and Vicky, this is so amazing.
2:10.4	You start to tell me a little bit about your life, and I have to tell you, I was shocked,
2:17.0	I was surprised, I was in awe of you. I respected you. But after you told me
2:21.8	the story, it was 10,000 times more. So let's back up. The way you navigate life is you just do your
	...

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