Jul 15, 20206 practical things I’ve learned at 30Shortest list of things I’ve learned at 30 ever! 1. Track habits and moods based on my menstrual cycle Yo, this tracker is life-changing! As a woman, it’s not hard to realize how crazily my menstrual cycle affects my wellbeing. Oh not hard at all! Tears that come out of nowhere. Sudden waves of anger and irritability. One day feeling…Meditation9 min readMeditation9 min read
Jan 19, 2020📝 Journal | Last day at the meditation retreatAs I went over my old notes, I came upon this. July 7th, 2019 Today is dedicated to noble silence practice. I’m not supposed to read or write anything. But here I am, jotting down my experience over the past 4 days. This is the fourth meditation retreat with thầy. Even though thầy…Meditation2 min readMeditation2 min read
Apr 29, 2019📝 Journal | New Year wishes to usEvery year close to NYE, I spent a day reflecting on the past year then wrote down new year resolutions which I came back to once in a while, whenever I felt a little off balance. This year, I was at a meditation retreat in the last four days. All…Mindfulness5 min readMindfulness5 min read
Apr 4, 2019📝 Journal | Who inspires me the most and whyCame across this question in one of the job application forms, “Who inspires you the most and why?” At first, I was concerned if it would be a risk to give a “spiritual” answer to a “professional” question. …Mindfulness2 min readMindfulness2 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Oct 8, 2018Financial Inclusion in Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamArea of focus: Short-term unsecured personal loans What’s now In Vietnam, there’s a significant increase in demand for short-term unsecured personal (payday) loans. These loans tend to be urgent, especially for low/average income families and individuals who have little to no credit history. Banks set a large number of constraints on loans…Finance4 min readFinance4 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Sep 30, 2018Thoughts on the history of lendingThink before products, before technology, into behaviors and solutions that were not designed at all, and eventually as far past into human evolution as you can find. Look at the threads connecting major leaps, and the accidental variations that ended up being hugely influential. …Finance2 min readFinance2 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Sep 25, 2018Different forms of (financial) solutionsBrainstorming exercise to come up with thesis ideas that are in different forms than a mobile app. Form #1–Designing a system Advantages Holistic approach Potential to create a sustainable and scalable ecosystem Disadvantages Multiple touch points and stakeholders Requires different skill sets Hard to maintain and update Thesis brainstorm A system that helps to make the lending process…Fintech2 min readFintech2 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Sep 24, 2018Short convos with strangers on finance topicsI met Jamie when I was doing my observation at Pay-O-Matic (from which I shared some findings in this post). He couldn’t see well so he asked me to help with the Coinstar kiosk. Jamie was originally from Alabama, he moved to NYC in 1963, lived in Long Island before…Fintech3 min readFintech3 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Sep 23, 2018What I learned from one hour hanging out at Pay-O-MaticIn the attempt of learning more about the unbanked and underbanked population, I spent an hour of pure observation at one of the stores of Pay-O-Matic, New York’s provider of check cashing & financial services. The location I chose is located in Flushing, Queens NY. The area has a dense…Fintech2 min readFintech2 min read
Published inThe Fintech Landscape in South East Asia·Sep 16, 2018The journey of exploring Social Innovation in Vietnam continues…Over the past five years, I have been exploring ideas for Social Innovation in my home country, Vietnam. I once wrote a blog, “Why am I dead set on pursuing Social Innovation?”, …Fintech2 min readFintech2 min read
