Mia Nguyen

I attribute a lot of my success to the people in my life and the perspective they’ve given me. Time with family and friends keeps me grounded and reminds me that work is only one part of a much bigger life.

Losing my dad was a major turning point for me. It made me think differently about time, what I wanted to do with my life, and the kind of impact I wanted to have. It ultimately pushed me toward marketing and toward traveling internationally, which widened my perspective and made me more aware of how short and precious life really is.

That perspective has stayed with me throughout my career. I want to do meaningful work and make an impact, but I also don’t want to spend my life being hard on myself or constantly thinking I should be doing more. I want to work hard, stay curious, take chances, and build a career I’m proud of, while still making time for the people I love and enjoying my life along the way.

I think that balance has been a big part of my success. Knowing what matters to me helps me make better decisions about where I put my time and energy. At the end of the day, I want to look back and feel like I made an impact, but also that I was present for the people and experiences that made life meaningful.

Some of the best things in my career have come from saying yes before I had everything figured out, staying curious, and being willing to learn along the way. A conversation that seemed small at the time turned into a new opportunity. Taking on projects outside my comfort zone taught me how to persevere through difficult seasons and trust myself when things didn’t go according to plan.

You don’t always know which moments will matter. That’s why I’ve come to believe that showing up is part of the process. Keep doing thoughtful work. Stay open to people and ideas. Follow through. Put yourself in rooms where you can learn something new. You never know what might come from it.

Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you. Seek out mentors who challenge the way you think. Some of the best growth in my career hasn't come from a title or a promotion. It's come from being in the room with people who knew something I didn't.

The right mentors don't hand you answers. They ask the question you hadn't thought to ask. They see your work at an angle you can't, because you're too close to it. And on the days you doubt yourself, they remind you of what you're actually capable of.

You don't have to build a career alone. Find people you respect. Stay curious about how they think, how they work, how they got there. Be generous about learning from them, even when it's uncomfortable to admit you don't already know.

The goal was never to be the smartest person in the room. It's to keep choosing rooms where you still have something to learn.

AI is disrupting marketing, and it’s changing how companies define creativity and measure value. I’ve watched it eliminate jobs across technical and creative teams and flatten the kind of creativity that takes years to develop: voice, taste, judgment, and point of view.

What concerns me is that many leaders are measuring output without thinking about the long-term impact on their brands or their people. Efficiency is easy to measure. What’s harder to measure is what happens when you lose the people and creative thinking that make a brand distinctive.

That’s where responsible AI and ethics need to come into play. We have to ask not only, Can AI do this? but Should it? How we use these tools will shape the kind of companies, creative industries, and culture we build next.

Enjoying life in the present moment is really important to me. Life goes by way too quickly, and tomorrow isn’t guaranteed. I want to do work I care about, but I also want to remember to actually live my life while I’m doing it. For me, success isn’t just about what I accomplish. It’s about being present, staying curious, enjoying the people around me, and making the most of the time I have.