The 40th Anniversary of U.S. ASEAN relations is a special event that I had chance to participate in my trip to America. On October 12 2017, I and other fellows joined the U.S. Department of State at the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center to celebrate this great landmark of U.S- ASEAN partnership.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Walter Douglas welcomed guests and recalled his experience attending his first YSEALI gathering

It was so inspiring to listen to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Walter Douglas recalled his experience attending his first YSEALI gathering and feel connect with Americans to fostering this strategic partnership.

I (front row, the 2nd from left), Vietnamese ambassador (far left, back row), professional and academic fellows from Vietnam.

It was also a great moment for me to met the representative from Vietnam’s Embassy in Washington and other Vietnamese  professional and academic fellows. Having a chance to start networking with other brilliant fellows from Vietnam made me believe in my own country power more than ever before. We planned to stay connect and visit the embassy of Vietnam next November.

Through the event, I also talked to other fellows from other Asian countries and a lot of them are women. Before joining Yseali, I was sometimes discouraged and constrained by those who questioned my ambition and ability simply because i was a woman. But i have to thanks Yseali cause they provided me a chance to meet passionate and amazing women who are working on interesting topics. They inspired me and made me believe in our ability to transform, to create and do great things.