02 Jul 2025 1 min read

Who is your role model?

After months of persuasion, she finally came to visit me in the States. We spent over a month traveling around the country together, it was pure happiness.

When Acumen asked this question in our values interview, I didn’t name a CEO or celebrity.

My answer?
My mom, the woman who rewrote resilience.

🚀 The Original Disruptor
No college degree? No problem.
She pivoted from deferred teaching dreams to building her own blueprint.

🌎 Fearless at 16
Alone, she boarded to the Czech Republic, traded safety nets for shoe factory shifts, and became her boss’s MVP, without speaking the language fluently

📈 From Overtime to Entrepreneurship
She soon realized “Hard work feeds you. Smart work changes your life”.
As a natural opportunist, she traded goods across frontiers, saved every $$, and started multiple businesses in Vietnam, all by 30.

💥 Crisis CEO
When my dad had a stroke, she became his full-time nurse, home doctor, financial anchor, and our family’s glue.
Her PhD? In making the impossible routine.

Why does it matter?
We idolize “self-made” icons on the news, but real giants are the ones who teach us to walk.
My mom coded her own operating system:
- Courage as her currency
- Adaptability as her algorithm
- Love as her legacy I don’t just admire her.

I’m building my life to mirror hers, minus the shoe factory (sorry, Mom).

Your Turn: Who’s your role model?