welcome to my blog

a formal introduction about me and what you can find there

Oct 28, 2023

hello there, how are you these days?

though I have written some posts on this Substack, I have never introduced myself to you. so let me take this chance to give you an idea of who I am, what I am interested in, and what you can expect in this blog.

my name is thao

my full name in Vietnamese is dương ngọc mai thảo. my name at work is thao duong. but friends call me by a variety of nicknames, including thảo, lắc, dương ngọc mai.

you can call me whatever you want, especially call me yours.

I am in my 20s, or in particular, 22, and will turn one more in march every year. currently, I work in the sourcing industry for my dream company, adidas. I have been working there for one year and three months. however, before being an adidas person, I was an undergraduate at Foreign Trade University in Ho Chi Minh City.

my MBTI type is INTJ, which means an architect who is an imaginative and strategic thinker, with a plan for everything. it is quite true; for most of my life, I always think of every scenario that might happen and my action plans for each case. but on the contrary, I am not well-organized at all.

you can find me at…

🎶 a vietnamese concert, especially an indie one. I am a big fan of Nhung Thanh Pho Mo Mang (NTPMM), Hoi Dong Hoi, and so on. I love listening to Thai Dinh’s, MCK’s, tlinh’s, Haisam’s, Kien’s, Ngot’s, and Ca Hoi Hoang’s, to name a few. so whenever they have a show, you can expect to see me there.

☕️ a coffee shop. I enjoy working hours at coffee shops with my friends, in which each of us will focus on our tasks, and sometimes, when we want to rest, we will start gossiping and sharing about our daily lives.

🏠 home. I am an introvert, and I love being alone for a long time to be with me and me only. my house has everything I need, though it doesn’t have a good view (I live on the 6th floor, not the 20th as I expected) or a working desk (that is why I work at coffee shops). welcome you to my home one day.

what you can expect from this blog

I started writing as a part of my online writing course, in which I had to write consistently for 30 days. after that course, I took a gap for more than five months, and I just came back with writing by starting this Substack in August.

by stopping writing, I realized the importance of it unexpectedly. I had never known about it until I started writing and stopped for a while.

writing helps me reflect on my life, what has happened recently, what lessons learned are, and many and many more.

writing helps me understand what is essential and what is not.

writing allows me to capture my life, and then, in the future, I can go back and see how far I have been going.

without writing, I wonder what I have done so far in my life. no record. no feeling. nothing.

that is why I want to write. again.

so I am glad you accompany me in my writing and growth journey. on this blog, you can read about…

📖 my lessons learned: I am a young adult, gradually stepping into the world of maturity. there are so many things I don't know at this life stage, and this is where I plan to keep my knowledge and experience. hope that it can help you somehow.

🖼️ my world: family, friends, love, living alone in Saigon, etc. these are some topics that you can expect one day I will write about it. welcome to my world!

💻 my work: I just graduated from university one month ago and am officially a full-time employee. I know that many of you are on the first step of the career ladder, as I am. therefore, this blog can be a reference for you to navigate in the workplace as well (hopefully).

mostly, I will write in english to strengthen my english writing skills. sometimes, I will write in vietnamese to easily convert my feelings into words.

thao's growth journey

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