About Phuong
The Table of Contents
Invited international speaker and keynoter for 200+ workshops
Author of The Heartbeat of Speech-Language Pathology
Co-author of Becoming an Exceptional API Leader: Intimate Stories From 15 Changemakers
Writer for national publications, journals and blogs
Advocate for equitable services and representation
Family consultant for communication rights, needs and plans
School-based speech-language pathologist for all ages
School-based district and regional lead for Central Texas
Clinic-based lead speech-language pathologist
Heritage Vietnamese speaker
The Dedication
Stories are all we have, and I will share my favorite tale. My bá, a South Vietnamese navel captain, fought in a war that held no winners. Following his two year imprisonment, he was charged with navigating a wooden fishing boat across the South China Sea with má and 54 other refugees. After almost two weeks, they arrived in Hong Kong’s harbor, and I was born at 3am the following morning. This story is the foundation to my humanly efforts, both personally and professionally.
To understand my work is to honor the beginning of my sacred path.
The Prologue
My childhood held joy in consuming nem nướng cuốn, listening to Má’s stories and playing alongside my two younger siblings. Growing up in a small, rural Texas town where faces and language were different from my own, I conformed—bologna sandwiches replaced thịt kho tiêu that was deemed dog food by peers, January held lies about holiday presents that I never received and there was no mention of my shameful two-bedroom home on wheels. These aches, subsequently, fueled my life’s work.
The Purpose
Fast forward four decades and my eyes are wet reflecting on the work I do to support humanity in telling their authentic stories as a bilingual speech-language advocate. The last decade and half has been spent supporting scholars in the schools, clients in the clinic and providing meaningful content through presentations and keynotes to fuel educational and medical communities. My family earned this space for me, and I do these efforts wholeheartedly and unapologetically.
The Epilogue
Right now, there is reckoning that is building within the work alongside humanity. Uproar and subsequent actions are bending toward justice as we begin to acknowledge the intersections of humanity: race, ethnicity, wealth, differently-abled bodies, neurodiversity, native language influences, citizenship, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identify, age and more. There is so much exhaustive and meaningful work to do, and I am invested in this pursuit of justice—my profession supports humanity in telling their stories, and all narratives are worthy.
The Gratitude
There are many, earth-side and beyond, who have shown me love and kept me buoyed. For my family and chosen-family, I am grateful.