Thanh Tâm Nguyễn is the manager of a hair salon in Portland and the mother of one son. Her family came to the United States through the HO (Humanitarian Program for Former Political Detainees) because her father served the government of the Republic of Vietnam. Her father was in a re-education camp for 10 years and Nguyễn and her family eventually moved to the United States in 1991 when she was 28 years old.

In this interview, Nguyễn describes her transition to America and her first impressions along with the neighborhood where she originally lived, near Halsey street. She also talks about language being the biggest barrier in her transition to the US and how she and her family have found a large community at the Vietnamese Catholic Church she attends, Our Lady of La Vang Parish. She compares the education in the United States to that in Vietnam, finding the availability and lack of tuition to be a pro for the United States, but that the education could be more strict. She compares the perspectives on communist influence between generations of Vietnamese Americans. Because Thanh is so involved in anti-communist politics in the United States it is difficult for her to return to Vietnam. She hopes that the younger generations of Vietnamese people will remember where they come from and always involve themselves in the pursuit of human rights in Vietnam.