Huong Dang

I was born in a small farming village in northwest Vietnam, a place where poverty wasn’t just a circumstance—it was our way of life. Growing up in a country where most people lived on less than one dollar a day back in the 90s, education, especially for girls, was not a priority. But even as a young girl, I harbored a deep love for learning. My mother often joked that I didn’t just read books—I devoured them.

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Despite my passion, I was forced to leave school at the age of 12, and my dream of becoming a teacher seemed to end. At 13, I moved to the city to work as a live-in babysitter, earning just $6 a month to support my family. At 17, when tradition expected me to return to the village to marry and work the rice fields, I made a different choice: I chose education.

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That decision led to hardships beyond imagination—homelessness, exhaustion, and hunger. I lived under a staircase, waking up at 2 a.m. every morning to cook sticky rice to sell on the streets, sleeping just two hours a night, while clinging to the belief that education was my only way out. At one point, I was truly at the bottom of the food chain. But then something extraordinary happened—I found KOTO- Know One Teach One Social Enterprise. 

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At KOTO, I didn’t just learn practical skills or English—I found my dignity, my confidence, and most importantly, my voice. My thirst for education didn’t stop. In 2012, I received a scholarship through KOTO and Box Hill TAFE to study in Australia. Later, I was honoured with the Victorian International Student of the Year Award, which enabled me to continue with a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. 

Just before I started my master studies, life threw me another heartbreak—my brother’s funeral, and my sister’s experience as a survivor of domestic violence. That moment became a turning point. I no longer wanted success just for myself—I wanted to be the change I wished to see in my family, my community, and my country. 

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In 2018, I founded HopeBox, Vietnam’s first social enterprise dedicated to providing employment, training, and healing for women affected by gender-based violence. A dream born of pain, but fuelled by purpose.

Education continued to open unimaginable doors. In 2022, I studied at Yale University as a Maurice R. Greenberg World Fellow. In 2023, I became one of 12 global changemakers selected as an Obama Scholar at Columbia University in New York City. I even had the humbling honor of shaking hands and exchanging ideas with President Barack Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton—moments that reminded me that no dream is ever too big if you believe in your worth.

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Today, I proudly serve as the Executive Director of the Australia Vietnam Leadership Dialogue, and I lead HopeBox with the vision of creating a future where no woman is left behind.

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My story is not just mine—it belongs to every child who is told their dreams are too big, to every woman who is told her place is elsewhere, and to every person who dares to rise beyond the circumstances they were born into.

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I am living proof that with education, resilience, and the kindness of those who believe in you, it is possible to transform hardship into hope, and dreams into reality.

 

No matter where you come from, you deserve a seat at the table.

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And when you find your seat, make sure to pull up a few more chairs for others.