Nguyễn Đồ Quỳnh Yến (known to TV audiences as Vicky Nguyen) is the Vietnamese-born American NBC News senior consumer investigative journalist and anchor of NBC News Daily. In addition, the high-octane dynamo reports for the The Today Show, 3rd Hour of Today, MSNBC, and NBC Nightly News, and she’s the co-anchor of NBC News Daily.
Nguyen announced the publication of her book Boat Baby on The Today Show. An engrossing memoir, it is the story of her family’s escape from communist Vietnam and her journey from refugee to reporter.
Nguyen was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, in 1978. Once known as Saigon, it was renamed to honor the leader of North Vietnam in 1976 following the end of the Vietnam War. Between 1975 and 1995, over 3 million desperate Vietnamese people fled the country’s increasing turmoil and wanton violence during Communist rule. Seeking security and a better life, they fled, often by boat, crossing the South China Sea.
In 1979, Nguyen and her family were among the asylum-seeking “boat people.” On a sampan (a small rowboat), they paddled out to meet a larger fishing boat that was to take them to the safety of a refugee camp. It was a dangerous journey fraught with anxious episodes: They were robbed by Communist police who demanded payments for passage; abandoned by their guide; and left to fend for themselves through unfamiliar territory, and they trudged strenuous miles to meet the boat’s departure deadline or be left behind.
As luck would have it, although late to arrive, the family boarded after a sound reprimand from the ship’s captain. After two days, two nights, and a Thai pirate attack at sea, they arrived on the coast of Malaysia, where they remained in a refugee camp for over a year. It was Nguyen’s mother’s letter to the Holt International Children’s Services office explaining the family situation and their hope to raise their daughter in America “so she could receive an education and grow up in a free country” that brought attention to them. Awaiting a response, they survived on rations until they were eventually sponsored by a Eugene, Oregon, family, which allowed them to enter the U.S. as asylum seekers.
Nguyen spent most of her childhood moving from place to place in the family’s effort to improve their lives: first in Oregon’s informal outdoor environment in Eugene; to California in San Jose’s Little Saigon; to agricultural Santa Rosa, where she tired of her name being mispronounced and renamed herself “Vicky” after the sophisticated flight attendant on the TV sitcom Three’s Company.
At age 10, Nguyen became a U.S. citizen. Later, she went on to attend college at the University of San Francisco on an academic scholarship. During her time there, she was a member of the cheer squad and served as president of the student body. In 2000, she graduated as valedictorian of her class with a degree in communications and a minor in biology.
Nguyen began her career with Spectrum News 13 in Orlando, Florida. She wrote on her blog, “I was a ‘one man band.’ I shot my own video on a 20-pound DVC Pro camera (and) carried my own 15-pound tripod.”
In 2004, she moved to the ABC News affiliate KOLO in Reno, Nevada, and worked as a nightside reporter and fill-in anchor, later heading to Phoenix, Arizona, to cover national stories at KSAZ Fox 10 News, where she interviewed celebrities such as Alex Trebek, Tyra Banks, Shaquille O’Neal, and Sen. John McCain.
In 2007, Nguyen returned to northern California to become NBC Bay Area’s first freelance and special assignment reporter. While there, she was promoted to anchor and senior investigative reporter.
In 2019, Nguyen moved to New York, becoming an investigative and consumer correspondent for NBC News. Her work has been recognized with numerous awards emphasizing technical expertise and impact on service to the community.
Boat Baby, Nguyen’s autobiography, is an account of growing up in America with “unconventional Vietnamese parents who didn’t always know how to bridge the cultural gaps” but plowed ahead in their quest to succeed. She writes with humor and pride of their perspective on life and its influence in shaping her outlook: They approached life with the attitude “Why not us?” In the face of prejudice, she learned to be resilient and courageous, skills she used to combat stereotyping throughout her career.
Her dedication in the book reads: “To my mother Lién, and my father Huy, for reasons that will be abundantly clear by the end of the book.” A wonderful read, Nguyen makes good on her promise through chapters describing their lives in full detail as she increasingly perseveres to “become American” while they diligently hold fast to their Vietnamese customs and culture.
Within the 304 pages of Boat Baby, Nguyen pens 52 life-spanning chapters — prefacing the work with “I wrote this book to honor my parents, and by extension the millions of parents who make incredible sacrifices to provide the best life for their children.” She notes, “In these pages you will also find a love letter to the country that helped raise me. Nowhere else does the preservation of liberty and pursuit of happiness appear in abundance like it does in the United States of America.”
Her writing reads like an intimate conversation between friends. In retelling her nervous interview for a job in New York, she wrote: “What was the worst that could happen? I might fail miserably and have to leave the news business and start a bánh mì sandwich chain.”
An extraordinary, intense drama, the book retains the emotional, apprehensive, satisfying moments throughout its pages — from the devastating murder of her uncle in America; to their hard-scrabble life as refugees; to their rise from poverty’s humble background; to success, wealth, and security. Boat Baby is an Horatio Alger-style Asian success story of the rewards of grit, heavy lifting, and hard work.
