We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Weenie Nguyen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Weenie, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
Along with being hopeful to a fault, I get my resilience from the unwavering support of my family and friends. Like many other immigrant stories, my parents overcame a lot of hardships for me to have the opportunities that I have now. So, the best I could do to honor that is to work hard and to keep moving forward, even if it’s me falling forward. Over the years, my friends have always been very encouraging about my artistic pursuits. I am nothing without community and I am immensely grateful to be standing here. Without them, I wouldn’t be as resilient. A lot of the love I put into my work is also for them. One of my old friends in college gave me a two-hour pep talk (more of a bit of a lecture, haha) and knocked some sense into me when I was so in my head about my future. They helped me to push forward.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am an actor, although I often feel leery about mentioning that as my foremost profession. I started off doing collegiate theatre and now I’m on a hot pursuit towards the big screen! I am also a photographer, graphic designer, and illustrator! I’m one of those people that has to dip their toes into a bunch of different waters, haha. That is to say that I am a jack of some trades. The most exciting thing about what I’m doing is that I can do everything! I can express myself, my artistry, my craft in different mediums and formats, and that’s a blessing! I like to tell myself that I am also a writer, but I think I’m more of a distracted hobbyist than anything. I’ve picked up a handful of things because I’ve always wanted to be flexible and accommodating for others. I’m into collaborative work environments and I love being a team player. My fixation on being an actor is that I want to support and uplift others in their storytelling. I guess that’s also the case in my other mediums. I know I’m speaking so broadly, but I want to tell a story and for someone to be like, “Oh! I feel seen. I get that.” I want someone to feel whole and connected to the narratives that I present. We are what we create, right? Or something like that. Reflections in works of art are nice to see, I feel like it helps to pull us out from thinking that we are alone and separate. I’m trying to destroy the idea that we have to be hyper-individualistic or that feeling isolated is a normal feeling, if that makes any sense.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Persistence, patience, and love are three qualities that I think have been the most impactful in my journey. I’ve always been prone to rushing and self-criticism, so I believe that to function without these three things would be a detriment to anyone’s ability to do what they want to do. My advice is to love! To move with love, to give yourself grace, I feel like these things have helped me grow better both as an artist and a person. It’s a difficult practice, and something even I’m still trying to be better about, but in a world that’s so quick to think poorly of others and indulge in negative biases, why not try to negate that?
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Existentialism! How could none of us be facing that right now? I’m often wondering what my purpose should be, why I’m here, blah blah blah, boring stuff! Every rejection, every insult, every person that expresses their disdain for me, how much and how often I feel a sense of lack or isolation, all of it! They all weigh down on my silly little head. But nonetheless that’s the ever-present challenge I am facing. It’s a bizarre thing to be doing what I’m doing while the world is on fire. It almost feels absurd to have dreams and aspirations. There’s an ongoing dissonance in my head that I still can’t quite understand yet. The future remains uncertain, and yet I challenge it all by making my goals smaller, by seeing the humanity in others, and by being hopeful! I’m happy to be alive and I’m happy to be here among people who I love very much. What more could I ask for other than to be present despite it all?
Contact Info:
- Website: sweetsopkristine.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/weenthekristine
Image Credits
Kiana Nguyen, Ken Francis Villa, Justin Lawson, Jesus Ochoa
