Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother.
She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women, to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about life.
Too many women in this world feel alone. They worry about the judgment of others and they struggle
with their mental health. But when they listen to the Rare Girls podcast where empowered women
share their voices and tell their stories, many women will feel inspired to live a life of freedom
and to overcome all their insecurities.
They will feel it is a safe space to find their confidence,
to remember their unique beauty and to feel their self-worth,
and they will connect with the sisterhood of rare girls
who encourage their success and support their dreams.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Lin Cao.
Linh Cao is the first girl from Vietnam in this podcast, a graduate student pursuing
a degree in business analytics at Drexel University. Her passion lies in unraveling
patterns in data, uncovering insights that can streamline business performance and
provide a tangible competitive edge.
However, as much as she is fascinated by the power of data, she is equally committed to
the ethical aspects of data collection and use, advocating for responsibility and transparency
in this digital age.
Born and raised in a humble farm village in Vietnam, her thirst for knowledge was
insatiable from an early age.
Lynn firmly believes that education has the power not only to transform individual lives,
but to uplift entire communities. She considers herself a lifelong learner, and she is always
seeking out opportunities to grow both personally and professionally. In her leisure time,
her love for learning extends into a deep affection for literature. Her favorite author,
Khalid Hosseini has a unique ability to weave compelling narratives about the human condition
that resonate deeply with her. His books serve as a reminder of our shared humanity imbuing Lynn
with empathy and understanding. The riveting tales Hosseini crafts about the triumph of
the human spirit, despite all odds, inspire her and feeds her passion for creating a positive
change in the world. In her journey, Lynn is driven by the
belief that we can empower others through education and
data, just as she has been empowered. Whether through her
studies in business analytics or her love for compelling
literature, her life is dedicated to understanding the
world and using that understanding to make a
positive impact. Lynn, how are you today?
Hi Aziz, I'm good.
I feel honored, lucky, happy to have you here, very curious about you as a person.
And I'll begin with this nice first question, which is,
Lynn, if your friends could describe your personality, what would they say about you?
There are three words that my friend always used to talk about me.
That is resilient, determined, and compassionate.
Like my drive to always challenge myself and overcome difficulties
has also become a defining part of who I am
and making people describe me as a fighters or go-getters,
but the hardworking is not only the part of my life.
My friend also talk about me about the empathies
and I love to listen to people
and make them feel seen and understood.
I love that. I love it very, very much. And so to begin, because you're someone who seems
to be driven, you're a go-getter as you said, there are some girls and women in this world
who feel like a sense of struggle with them going out of their comfort zone. They worry
about failing. Maybe others would judge them or they'll disappoint their parents. How
do you deal with such things? And what's your advice for such girls?
So before giving some advice to the women who will listen to the episodes,
I want to talk about one time that I get the difficulties in my life.
Like it is the first time I faced a significant professional setback.
And it was a moment when I was striving to reach a career milestone,
but things didn't go as planned.
So instead of letting the disappointment consume me,
I chose to view the setback as an opportunity
for learning and growth.
And it was a difficult process,
but I found strength in my ability to adapt the bond back.
And that experience shaped my perspective
and taught me the importance of the resilience.
And it's made me realize that the failure is not the end
but rather the stepping stone to the success.
So I believe that not only women
but also like everyone in the world
have their own difficulties.
So instead of thinking that difficulty
can be the big failures of my life,
of our life and make us feel disappointed.
So we could consider, think positive about that.
We learn from the failure,
learn from the difficulties
and then we find our inner strength
and we grow up, and we take advantages of the difficulties,
and we learn how to be successful.
Thank you. I love that story and the mindset and the perspective you have.
And to ask even more, you are the first girl from Vietnam in this podcast.
Can you share a little bit about what is some unique things about the culture of women in Vietnam?
How do you view yourself? How much is women's empowerment there? Share more about your life as
someone growing up in a small village in Vietnam and how that shaped your evolution. Thank you
much for that. Really, really good questions. I was born in a farm village in Vietnam. So
I first I want to share about the journey, how I, I grow up and my journey from a try to me today.
Like, I were born in a family that my parents are teachers. But despite being teachers
They also have trouble to provide me with the same educational opportunity that the
urban children often take for granted.
So they always emphasize that the importance of knowledge and learning as a way to break
free from a humble circumstance.
So at my secondary school, I took part in some math and English class in a town five
from a house five miles away.
So I usually go back and forth three days a week
to take part in that class.
And I remember days when I would be
drained just by the rain and worn by the summer heat,
but I kept pushing myself.
And the journey became like the metaphor
for my education journey and reminding me
that Zoroastrian knowledge is not always comfortable
or easy, but it is always worth it. And the challenging in my early life like
leave the groundwork for my strong work ethic and I learned to value every opportunity
and to make the most of my circumstance. So I recognize the success wasn't about
where I came from or what I had to start with. It was about the determination to
keep going despite the obstacle in my life.
So that is my journey from a child in the farm village
to now the girls pursuing the graduate program
in the America.
So sharing about my life,
it is the part of what the young,
like the girls, many girls in Vietnam growing up
in the farm village are facing up.
But now today everything is like different
from the time when I was a child.
Now the children in Vietnam, especially many girls,
they have more opportunity to access better educations
in the rural areas.
And the parents also provide them
with good educations.
And I think I'm very lucky to be born in a family
where my parents always support me.
And I believe that many young girls in Vietnam
also be supported by the parent to dream bigger and grows in a better background now today.
I love that story and it makes me think the way you express yourself is very eloquent.
Is it because of your love for literature? And can you share how can literature help women
understand themselves, the world better and connect better with other people and live life
in a more effective way.
I feel like Sinai was a child
and my parents bought a lot of books and magazines to me.
And I think the love for the literatures
began from that time.
So I believe that I found my confidence
to tell my story to the literatures
and also my experience, both good and bad.
I think that literatures has shaped me into the person I am today, along with my experience.
So how to say that it is the first, the first thing that it changed my life is the education
and the awareness, like the literatures educate me as the girl about the rise and the potentials
and also the possibilities that exist beyond the immediate context.
And education just can inspire and empower me through many stories of many inspired characters in the in the book to pursue the freedom and to be
and to be, I don't know how to say but it is like the strength of the character in the book I read always inspired me to be a better person, to be hardworking.
And the second thing that literatures teach me is that being an empathetic and understandable person,
like the literatures expose me to different perspectives and experience and fostering the empathy and understanding in me.
And it also provides the insight into the experience of many people around the world,
experience the culture that I have never seen before.
So it purified me the background
and also helped me to be an open-minded people,
open-minded person.
So I believe that literature can also have many women
around the world to make them a better version
of themselves, being more empathetic,
more friendly, understandable,
and also motivated them to pursue a better life, better education.
Thank you. That's fantastic.
And you are now someone who's fascinated by the world of data.
First, why is this something that is very interesting for you?
How do you view it helping business and the world?
As well as speak a bit about some of your reservations about data privacy
and the ways that data can be used for good ways or for ways that are overdone.
Thank you so much for asking me about my passion right now.
I've always been fascinated by the immense power of the data since high school.
In my high school, I took part in a group with two team members
And we build an application to have people in the emergency situations, like they can shake their hand, their phone, and then the information that they are in dangerous situation can be sent to the police and their parents immediately.
That is a project to participate in the scientific competitions at high school.
And when we build that app and there's some user from our class set and I can like collect some data of our user and I realized that, oh, when I have the data user is very powerful that I can use that information to do many things analyze, analyze the data and then I can have some insight.
And also, I imagine that some organizations having a lot of data, so they have very powerful
power in the hand.
So that is a time that I realized the power of data.
And that is a time when the passion for the data analytics started.
So I found myself drawn into the process of the assessing complex data set and leaning
inside from seemingly unrelated information
and also using the fighting to solve the real world problem.
And I love the data analytic,
allowing me to combine the skill and the statistic
and the problem solving with creativity and innovations.
So I feel like it's like a bachelor's
that require both logics and creativity to decode
and the satisfaction of finding the solution
to the incredibly rewarding.
But as I told you that I realized the power of data
as in high school and how dangerous it be
if it will fall into the hand of a bad person.
So that is why I really care about the transparency
and the ethical issue of the data.
Like I believe that the duties of organizations
and companies and many experts in this industry nowadays
that is to keep the privacy of the user
and do not let the data fall into the hand of the pet person.
So that is what I am learning
and my ethics when I'm working in the industry.
Thank you for this.
I love it very, very much.
It's great that you are able
to understand yourself much more,
focus on your passions and build your journey
in the way that you want.
So what's your advice for some women
who might not really have found their passion,
they do something just maybe to please their parents
or expectations of other people,
how to go about finding their passion
and having the courage to go for it,
even if they could risk failing.
So, what I want to tell to the women struggling to find the voice is that believe in your
words and the unique insight and the perspectives you bring to the table.
And remember that your experience is balanced and your feelings are important and your
voice deserves to be heard and it might seem daunting at first, but take small steps
and starting sharing your talk, your opinion in a safe space,
and also listen to your inner self
to realize what your dream is and what is your strength is.
And as you gain more confidence,
you will find it easier to express yourself
in other areas of your life too.
So never be afraid to tell your story
for it taught sharing our story, that we inspire others
and affect the meaningful change in use and in other people.
That is why they want to say.
Thank you so much, Lynn.
It was my privilege and my honor to have you here,
to share your voice.
I wish you all the success, a bright future,
and I wish you to always keep going.
Thank you so much, Aziz.
I would love to take part in your podcast today,
And I really, really appreciate the opportunity to share my story, my journey with many, many
inspired women around the world.
You are welcome.
