Welcome to Season 5, Episode 16! April 30, 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. So we’re excited that our conversation today is with Vicky Nguyen, an award-winning NBC News Daily anchor and Senior Consumer Investigative Correspondent. She can be seen regularly on The TODAY Show, NBC Nightly News, and NBC News NOW. And that’s not all! Her latest work is the touching and inspiring memoir Boat Baby. It details the story of her and her parents, and their journey from Saigon to the U.S. Throughout their struggles and successes in America the reader is treated to touching and funny stories of their experiences.

Born in Saigon, Vietnam, she and her parents fled the country in the dead of night on May 4, 1979. As with so many Southeast Asian refugees from 1975 through the 80s, they encountered several life or death challenges before finding their way to the refugee camp at Pulau Bidong, Malaysia. After staying there for 10 months, they had the good fortune of being sponsored to come to America.

In our conversation, we talk about her personal journey to being an award-winning journalist as well as her thoughts on fate, embracing change, the privilege of being a role model in media, and so much more. We highly recommend going out and getting Boat Baby. If you want more of Vicky, watch her on the various shows she’s on, follow her on instagram, or visit her website to see some of her special reports. We especially like her special reports on the rise of anti-asian hate entitled The Racism Virus as well as her very personal four-part story From Saigon to Silicon Valley.

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