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Hi friends, just some personal note today. Celebrating a friendship and some reflections.

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Back in 2016, as a junior in Tufts, I won the Peter Drucker Prize (no joke, man).

I was then offered an internship at the Financial Times in London.

Dream opportunity. Prestige. The kind of thing that looks incredible on LinkedIn and makes your Asian parents proud.

But my heart was set on something else - I wanted to come back to the Bay Area.

I turned it down and interned with Mei Lin Fung instead at a nonprofit tech startup with great ambition.

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Here's the crazy part.

Because of that summer, I met this guy Stephen again in Palo Alto. (We first met at admitted student weekend at Yale NUS in Singapore in 2013)

We actually met at the grocery chain, Trader Joe (and of course I recognized him because he was doing his signature move: charming the cashier haha lol)

He invited me to his book launch, and I brought along a Vietnamese lady who later inspired him to care more about Vietnam.

— He moved to Vietnam slowly, and now he’s completely committed to building something great here.

Wild.

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Sometimes I still wonder what would’ve happened if I’d taken that Financial Times opportunity.

Being trained to deliver in intense, high pressure environment. (Could have got a full time job there after graduation even 😛)

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Yet had I taken that FT internship path, none of this would have happened.

Why am I telling the story?

Because I’ve been in conversation with many people in transition mode thinking about what’s next.

I’ve had my fair share of regret over the years about not being more conventionally career-driven, image-driven or money-driven in my 20s.

It bites you in your 30s.

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But for this decision? Nah.

Because look what life brought to me instead. It brought Stephen in my life - someone I truly admire, respect, love and call family.

Someone whose presence reminds me that human connection isn’t just nice to have when AI is changing everything (both of us are quite concerned about that)

It’s the thing we’re going to stick with.

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Two lessons:

1/ When everything else gets automated, displaced,

the people we choose as our running mates become everything.

The relationships we invest in today become the foundation we build tomorrow on.

For me, I genuinely prefer creating the future with people I choose over optimizing my individual career trajectory.

2/ It’s worth remembering that the most important decisions aren’t about maximizing individual outcomes.

In fact, they are never about that.

They’re about staying true to what you value most deeply - even when you can’t see the full picture yet.

Even when it looks like you’re making the “wrong” choice.

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with all my love,

Khuyen

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ps: I've been using AI and emotional reflection tool for decision making for some beta clients. If you are interested, reply "DECISION" and I'll put you in a wait list when I first launch the new version.

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