Growing Up Nguyen

About Growing Up Nguyen

What happens when four Nguyễn siblings get behind the mic? You get a podcast reimagining Vietnamese American legacy, grief, and joy—one story at a time. Born in the Bay and raised by first-gen parents, Hương, Karin Hạnh, Hedda Hiếu, and Benjamin Hoàng grew up sharing bedrooms and debates about the dishwasher. Now they’re bringing dinner table convos to the mic—for anyone growing up between cultures, holding on, and healing along the way.

Publisher

Growing Up Nguyễn

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

29 Aug 2020

Latest episode

29 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

14 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   29 Apr 2026

   What We Carry: 50 Years After Saigon

   Fifty years after the fall of Saigon , we reflect on what our family carries forward—stories, survival, silence, resilience, and love. In this special episode of Growing up Nguyen, we weave together sibling conversation with interviews from our mom, aunts, and uncles to explore how war and displacement shaped our family’s habits, values, and sense of identity—and how those inheritances continue to shape who we are today. From scarcity and sweat equity to healing, joy, and self-discovery, this is a conversation about honoring legacy while choosing what we carry forward.

2. 

   10 Oct 2024

   Bonus Episode: Ngày Về Của Bố

   Bonus Episode, Vietnamese Boat People Podcast: Episode #51 Ngày Về Của Bố Siblings Hương, Karin Hạnh, Hedda Hiếu, and Benjamin Hoàng Nguyễn grew up together in the San Francisco Bay Area in a boisterous Vietnamese American family. In 2019, their father, Nguyễn Khánh Hưng, a first-generation immigrant from Việt Nam, passed away. To pay tribute to their father, the siblings participated in our 3rd Annual Mỹ Việt Story Slam (https://www.vietnameseboatpeople.org/2022-storytellers) in 2022 with their spoken word piece, “Ngày Về Của Bố” (roughly, “The Day of Dad’s Return”), a reflection on grief and Vietnamese mourning rituals. In this special episode of Vietnamese Boat People, the Nguyễn siblings are at the helm as our first-ever guest hosts. They’ve brought their group dynamic and conversational style to Vietnamese Boat People’s format, in order to delve into their father’s life, legacy, who he was, and his unique and multifaceted experiences. Vietnamese Boat People is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to preserving and continuing the narratives of the Vietnamese diaspora community. Their mission is to empower individuals within this community to share the stories of our community from intergenerational voices. In addition to their award-winning podcast, they have public programs available that empower individuals to preserve their family histories through storytelling workshops, story slams, community blogs, conversation kits, and the journeys map. To learn more, visit www.vietnameseboatpeople.org (http://www.vietnameseboatpeople.org/).

3. 

   31 Dec 2021

   Book 2, Chapter 4: Nguyen It Comes To Speaking Vietnamese

   Do you speak another language? Tune into Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu, and Benjamin Hoang as they discuss the blessings and challenges of a heritage language and whether it's worthwhile.

4. 

   31 Dec 2021

   Book 2, Chapter 2: Nguyen It Comes To Love

   How do you know you're loved? Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu, and Benjamin Hoang talk about what expressions and feelings of love mean and why this quiz can help you better connect with others.

5. 

   31 Dec 2021

   Book 2, Chapter 1: Nguyen It Continues

   While honoring the two year anniversary of their Bo's (father) passing, Huong, Hanh, Hieu, and Hoang have a discussion on grief and their different processes of moving forward.

6. 

   31 Dec 2021

   Book 2, Chapter 3: Nguyen It Comes To Race

   Dissecting a term like racialization isn't easy but we get into it this episode! Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu, and Benjamin Hoang share how our Vietnamese-American identity affects what people believe about us and what it means for the stories we tell ourselves.

7. 

   10 Oct 2020

   Chapter 8: Nguyen it Ends

   We’ve talked about what it’s meant for us to be Vietnamese-American throughout several chapters. For this final chapter, we talk about customs and traditions and how we blended several to create and carry out a uniquely Vietnamese-American ceremony--the funeral for Bo, our dad.

8. 

   3 Oct 2020

   Chapter 7: Nguyen in Vietnam Pt 2

   12 years later… Hieu and Hoang visited Vietnam! They traveled from North to South Vietnam while riding a moped, dabbling in snorkeling, and even meeting unknown family members. This chapter, they share what it was like for them, years later after Huong and Hanh’s trip, to come face to face with being Vietnamese-American in Vietnam.

9. 

   26 Sept 2020

   Chapter 6: Nguyen in Vietnam

   Our first trip to Vietnam! And the first time meeting our paternal cousins... Well, for three of the crew, at least. From a wedding to the sand dunes, it was quite the journey. Listen in on today’s chapter to hear more about Huong and Hanh’s experiences on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and what it felt like to come face to face with being Vietnamese-American in Vietnam.

10. 

    19 Sept 2020

    Chapter 5: Nguyen in America

    This chapter, we got some confessions. But our real-life confrontations and conversations don’t need to be a secret! In today’s release, we delve into what our experiences have been like growing up Vietnamese in America.

11. 

    12 Sept 2020

    Chapter 4: Nguyen Enough

    You’ve probably felt out of place and awkward before. We’ve definitely felt the same, and especially when people have made a point of the things that make us stand out as Vietnamese-American. This chapter, we share stories and memories of those times we didn’t feel “Nguyen” enough.

12. 

    5 Sept 2020

    Chapter 3: When Nguyen Met Nguyen

    Tune in to learn more about what Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu and Benjamin Hoang know and *still* don’t know about how our parents and grandparents came to the United States and how our parents met.

13. 

    29 Aug 2020

    Chapter 2: The N'Compass

    Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu, and Benjamin Hoang delve into what our sibling relationship dynamic looks like and why we do (and don’t) work well together.

14. 

    29 Aug 2020

    Chapter 1: Nguyen it Begins

    For this first chapter of our book, Huong, Karin Hanh, Hedda Hieu, and Benjamin Hoang sit down to talk a bit about what brought about our podcast and what it was like growing up in our Nguyen household.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

12 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

5 ratings

Contact Growing Up Nguyen

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.