Meet Don Nguyen

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Don Nguyen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Don below.

Hi Don, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life—some of them turned out surprisingly well, and others… not so much. But I’ve learned that even when I fall flat on my face, I can still get up, dust myself off, and most importantly, learn something. That’s what gave me the confidence to start taking risks.

Now, to be clear—risk-taking is still hard. And terrifying. I’m a serial self-evaluator. I’m always asking myself: What worked? What didn’t? Could that have gone any worse? What can I do better next time? It’s a blessing and a curse. That kind of self-reflection helps me push through the fear, but too much of it can kill spontaneity.

I probably developed this habit as a kid. My parents were constantly working to support the family, so I was left to figure things out on my own. No one was hovering over me asking if I did my homework or how I was feeling. At the time, it felt like neglect. Now I realize it was training. Life boot camp. It forced me to think for myself, take chances, and live with the outcome—which, for better or worse, is how I learned to take risks.

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?

First and foremost, I’m a playwright. I’m also a digital nomad. Last May, my girlfriend and I packed up our lives, gave up our NYC apartment, and hit the road. We spent three months traveling through Europe, and when we got back, we bought a camper van—which has been our full-time home ever since.

As a digital nomad, I work full-time as a web developer. I’m also an amateur astrophotographer, traveling with a portable telescope setup and chasing dark skies whenever I can. The real challenge is finding time to balance all my interests and passions—but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My journey started in Nebraska, where I grew up after my family fled Vietnam during the fall of Saigon and resettled in the U.S. I ran a small theater company there for many years before moving to New York City to pursue my theater dreams—as an actor, director, and eventually a playwright.

On the writing front, I have a production of my play The Supreme Leader coming up this fall at Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken. It’s a coming-of-age comedy about Kim Jong-Un during his high school years in Switzerland.

To see more of my astrophotography, visit theinterstellarfeller.com, and for more of my writing, check out thenuge.com. Instagram: @theinterstellarfeller @thenugespeaks

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

THE COURAGE TO FAIL
There have been many times where I’ve hesitated to take action because I was afraid of failing. That fear was paralyzing. What I eventually learned was failure is inevitable—I’m not going to succeed every time, and that’s okay.

I had to redefine my relationship with failure. Expect it. Embrace it. And USE it. The goal was not avoiding it but to learn from it. Failure for me isn’t the end of the story; it’s part of the process. It’s how I learn, adapt, and grow. Some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned have come from things that didn’t work out. As long as I was willing to reflect and keep going, failure became fuel for me—not a roadblock

And now, as I get older, life goes by so much faster and I think back to all the time I lost sweating over a decision instead of just making one and going boldly forward with it. What scares me more now is not failure, but regret.

THE COURAGE TO START OVER
For me, the fear of failure has always been tangled up with the fear of starting over. And honestly, it made sense. I had worked incredibly hard to build the life I thought I wanted—a home, a marriage, a role in a community where I was thriving on the outside. But inside, I was deeply unhappy.

Every morning, I’d lie in bed thinking, “My life is over.” It was one of the darkest times I’ve ever lived through. And even though I knew something had to change, I was terrified to actually make that change. I spent a long time weighing every possible consequence.

Eventually, I realized: it wasn’t starting over that scared me. It was the fear of disappointing everyone else.

But I reached a breaking point—and chose myself. I left it all behind and moved to New York to chase my dream of working professionally in theatre. It was the most terrifying, exhilarating decision I’d ever made.

And it changed everything.

I started waking up in New York with a completely different thought: “How did I get so lucky?”

JUST DO IT
Nike really nailed it with that one: Just do it. I’ve found that sometimes, that’s exactly what I need to hear. I can get caught in endless debates with myself, weighing every angle—but not every decision gives you that kind of time. Sometimes I just have to go with my gut and move. One step leads to another, even if it’s just an inch forward. And honestly, some of the best things in my life started that way—with a small step and no guarantees.
So I guess in terms of advice, this is what I wish future-me could give to young me:
Fear keeps you stuck. Regret lasts longer. Failure is part of the path. What’s worse is never starting. Just do it.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Funny timing—I was in the middle of writing about fear of failure and starting over when I got the news: I’m being laid off from my job of nineteen years.

So here I am, unexpectedly turning the page to a new chapter.

That job was my safety net. It gave me the stability to pursue creative passions like writing and astrophotography. Without it, the stakes feel much higher. Financially, I’ll be okay for now—I have savings—but the biggest immediate challenge is health care.

It’s honestly infuriating that in this country, your access to health care is so tightly bound to your employment. The second you’re out of a job, you’re left scrambling. Yes, there’s COBRA and the ACA, but the costs are outrageous. I’ll be fine for a bit, but for folks living paycheck to paycheck, it’s unconscionable that we expect them to just “figure it out.” It’s cruel.

Anyway—rant over.
I’m going to take this time of unemployment as an opportunity to prioritize projects I’ve put on the backburner. Really do the things I want to do for myself without the constraints of a 9-5 corporate job.
That’s where I am right now. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from past failures and fresh starts, it’s that fear is normal. I just have to keep moving forward—BOLDLY.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Sasha Diamond, Aaron Zavitz, Don Nguyen, Dana Breashears

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