What do you do at Fordham?
I’m the director of organizational and leadership development in Human Resources. I focus on helping employees to maximize their potential, from performance management, to executive coaching, to team building, to training and beyond. I’ve been here 5 years.
Tell me a little about your background.
I was born in Vietnam and lived there for 3 years, although I am ethnically Chinese. My family then immigrated to the United States and we settled in Ellicott City, Maryland. I did my undergrad degree at Penn State University Park and earned my doctoral degree at Hofstra University.
What’s a fun fact about you that most colleagues don’t know?
I’m a big fan of the Williams sisters—the tennis players. Between summer 2020 and fall 2021, I hosted virtual happy hours for fans of Venus and Serena from Tennis Twitter. It got so popular that Serena Williams joined us twice, and Venus Williams joined once. That was a very unique experience. It was a great way to connect with other tennis lovers around the world and build a lot of friendships.
What work are you most proud of doing in your time here?
When I first joined Fordham, one of the programs I launched was Fordham Flourish. The intention behind it is to bring people together in small pods made up of employees from different departments. (I’m currently in the process of launching our third cohort—speak with your supervisor if you’re interested in being nominated.) Some of the participants had been at Fordham for 10 or even 20 years—and had never met. Being able to facilitate those connections and give people the chance to build relationships across departments was always very meaningful to me.
In a few words, what do you think makes Fordham special?
One thing I truly appreciate about Fordham is that its Jesuit identity really sets it apart. There’s a deep-rooted commitment to cura personalis.
Back in 2022, both of my parents passed away while I was in the middle of launching the performance appraisal portal—a project that took a lot of preparation. My boss Kay Turner, vice president for HR, told me it was OK to pause the launch for a month or so given everything I was going through. That moment will always resonate with me. It showed me that cura personalis isn’t just something we say—it’s something we live here.
What’s your motto?
My motto is a quote by Maya Angelou, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” That’s really important to me since building relationships is really important in the work I do, but also in how I live my life.
