Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Quynh Tran. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Quynh with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
I believe my work ethic stems from a powerful motto my mother instilled in me: “The way you do one thing is the way you will approach everything.” This principle has shaped my approach to responsibilities throughout my life.
As a child, I was naturally disorganized and spontaneous. I would rush through homework with minimal effort, eager to finish quickly so I could watch my favorite shows. My assignments were often completed half-heartedly—doing just enough to get by, but rarely putting in my best effort.
Time and again, my mom would intervene, setting clear expectations and reminding me that regardless of what profession or career I might enter, I would always have an audience judging my work. Therefore “if something is worth doing, it’s worth pouring your all into it”, she said.
Back then, I thought this wasn’t a wise use of time because I considered these assignments “low-stake” and “not worth the time and effort.” Despite my objections, her values gradually shaped my identity and fostered a strong sense of accountability within me. Now that I’m more mature, I realize she was right all along. Almost every opportunity others have given me began with the impression that I was an enthusiastic, hard-working “go-getter.”
That’s a long way of saying my work ethic comes from intrinsically believing that everything, no matter how small, is an opportunity to learn, grow, and express my full potential—and my effort will always be reciprocated.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m currently a Chief Executive Director at HER (Health.Equity.Respect), an international, award-winning nonprofit working to alleviate period poverty and destigmatize menstrual taboos through education, pad production and distribution, fundraising, and partnerships. Like aforementioned, I was also granted this leadership opportunity by always showing up enthusiastically and giving my all while leading initiatives at HER, whether as an intern or chapter leader. Right now, the HER team and I are working on very exciting projects such as developing a comic book series to destigmatize menstrual taboos in modern society, building a fellowship program where we give young change makers experimental grounds to launch projects that further HER’s mission, and of course, continuing to strengthen partnerships, secure more grants, and fundraise more money to organize education workshops and manufacture and distribute more pads for women in need.
During my journey advocating for period equity as HER San Jose Chapter Leader, I recognized that although girls and children in urban areas generally have pretty open access to basic menstrual knowledge, the lingering stigmas are still present in the way that we avoid discussing periods publicly, use code names, fear judgment, and face inaccessibility of menstrual facilities. Our vision is to reinvent existing discriminatory menstrual practices in a more light-hearted way to deliver messages about the absurdity of menstrual discrimination in modern society. Hence, we started this comic book project to achieve equity within the local area that we’re living in. I’m particularly excited about this project as it allows for a lot of originality and artistic expression through materials that we as teenagers consume pretty regularly—comic books. We are looking to build a community of beta readers really soon, so make sure to be on a lookout for that on our instagram.
As a young activist, creativity is among my core principles. I believe firmly in the power of innovative problem solving in not only helping people make ends meet but also igniting and inspiring excitement within my team. I want to create a working space that foster people to think outside of the box and solve social issues through both an empathetic and analytical lens.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back I think three qualities and/or skills that made the most impact on my journey are: having an experimental mindset, learning how to make decisions even when you’re uncertain, and mastering the art of effective communication. I’m by no means an expert in any of these three qualities but throughout my journey, I’ve seen almost daily application of these skills and I believe that I will be able to lead HER to achieve so many more heights if I can master these three skills.
In terms of how I developed or improved upon these skills, it’s by surrounding myself with people who are really good at them. This is something that I learned after getting involved with another adult-led organization and getting exposed to their level of professionalism, and then I applied my learnings to my work at HER. Whenever you have the opportunity, always contribute your opinions even when your inner critic says that what you have to say is not good enough, especially during a discussion setting because these are the rare occasions when you get real-time feedback and can really make sense of more experienced people’s thought processes.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
If I only had a decade left, I would want to build a nonprofit organization that helps kids in Vietnam, where I originally come from, access high-quality education that would help them realize their potential. So many of the opportunities I’ve received, I owe to my second home, the United States. The past 4 years in this country have helped me to discover myself and my passion, to step outside of my comfort zone and even give back to this community. I really appreciate how in here you can learn so much by simply starting to do things and that education doesn’t have to be rigid, so long that you have the willingness to learn. So my ultimate goal in life is to bring this level of learning equity to my home country and potentially to other world regions as well.
My last note before we end this questionnaire is that your passion doesn’t have to be complicated; it can be as simple as “I like participating in discussions and brainstorming with other people.” In fact, that’s how I realized that I might be interested in becoming a part of HER 🙂
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