Cyndi Nguyễn

Interview with Cyndi Nguyễn:

Interviewer: Would you mind sharing a little about your background, journey to New Orleans East, and how you got there?

Cyndi Nguyễn: My Vietnamese name is Xuan. I came over to America in 1975 when I was five years old with my parents, siblings, aunt, and grandma. My mom was pregnant with my little brother at that time. We went over to Guam first; there, we almost lost my little sister to a rare disease. We went through Guam and came to Arkansas, to a refugee camp. My family got sponsored by a family in Monticello, Iowa. We moved to New Orleans in December of 1975. My father got a job as a fisherman by trade.

Interviewer: How did your father's trade play into the move? Were you going to stay somewhere coastal?

Cyndi: We were told New Orleans was similar to Vietnam; the weather and the gulf where my father could work. We also had the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a Vietnamese priest helping thousands of immigrant families. We were fortunate to get assistance from the Housing Urban Development, where they have subsidized housing. My father started fishing and making a living; we just had to go to school and learn English. I left New Orleans after middle school because I got into a lot of trouble. My father was nervous about me growing up in New Orleans; with the environment then, they sent me to the Sister of Carmelite in Texas.

Interviewer: Did you have any choice in the matter?

Cyndi: No, It was in the days when you had bad kids; they went to the convent or the seminary for Vietnamese kids. I went to two convents and got kicked out of both. I applied to one in California. I wasn’t admitted because of my record. I found myself back in New Orleans after my sophomore year. I stayed in touch with the family that sponsored my family in Monticello and called them. They said to move there, I did. It transformed my life. I was the only Asian, predominantly all-white. Mary and Gus Norland became like my parents. Their kindness, patience, and perspective made life so meaningful and fun for me. When I graduated, I went back to New Orleans. I wasn’t going to go to college. Nobody had gone to college in my family. Mary [Cyndi’s previous host mother] said I think you could do more. I went back to New Orleans, but then it hit me: maybe I can do more. I told my mom [Cyndi’s birth mother] I wanted to go; she did everything to help me get in. I went to Lawrence College that summer after I graduated. We couldn’t afford tuition. I was able to get a Pell Grant scholarship, but right before my senior year, I got unexpectedly pregnant with my oldest daughter, Serena. I had her and graduated that same year with my bachelor's degree. In the midst of being pregnant with no husband, my parents and grandparents disowned me. But I had that Cyndi Lauper attitude. I’m gonna do what's right and tough it out. I admire Cyndi. When I became a US citizen, I changed my name to C-Y-N-D-I in 1993. I came back to New Orleans after graduating and married Serena’s father.

Interviewer: Where is he from?

Cyndi: He lives in Texas. I felt that if I married him, my parents and grandparents would be okay, and I needed to mend my relationships with them. I divorced him a year and a half later. Getting divorced is a taboo in my culture. My parents and my grandparents stopped talking to me again. After several years of being divorced, I met my husband now. We have 3 daughters, including Serena, and a set of triplet boys. When I met my husband, we moved to New Orleans, and I needed to amend [the relationship] with my grandparents.

Interviewer: Tell me about the non-profit you started. Were you simultaneously running it and serving the city council?

Cyndi: I saw the Vietnamese community and how we were isolated in one area. I started a non-profit called Viet. It's been serving the community for over 20 years. People can get help applying for food stamps and getting assistance if they lose their jobs or don't know how to get insurance. We ran a summer camp for kids. I served as the executive director for 18 years. I ran twice for City Council. The first time was only eight months after giving birth. I was just really getting tired of the BS in politics. I didn't think I was going to win because the Vietnamese community was less than 20%. I was blessed and humbled to be the first Vietnamese American to serve on the city council for the city of New Orleans.

Interviewer: You were five when you left. Do you have real memories, or are they mostly stories that you have heard about the experience?

Cyndi: Just stories. That's why this 50-year commemoration that I'm chairing is so important: to hear stories and view some of the pictures. We have a photographer who took 15,000 pictures during that time. I'm hosting a photo party for all of us to reflect.

Interviewer: Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill were devastating events for the fishing community. Was that hard for your father?

Cyndi: Luckily, my father left the fishing business way before Katrina. He became a forklift driver for Shrikeman, a grocery store here in New Orleans. My brother-in-law, a fisherman, was impacted by the DP oil spill. When Katrina hit, we had only lived in the United States for 30 years. It's not long if you have a community that was uprooted, reestablished into a new country, doesn't speak the language, or doesn't understand the system. It made it easy to rebuild after Katrina.

Interviewer: Is that because you didn’t fully have your roots down?

Cyndi: Everything was still fresh, versus if we rebuild it and then 70 years later, it'd be different. I believe that we were the ones that turned on the light in the city of New Orleans. I was running my nonprofit organization, Viet, and we were under renovation at our community center, so I was not going to evacuate. My husband had this gut feeling. We left the night before Katrina hit and decided to go to Port Arthur, Texas, because it's close to New Orleans. On TV the next day, we saw how the city of New Orleans flooded. We thought, what do we do?

Interviewer: How long were you in Texas?

Cyndi: We were in Texas for a month. FEMA put us in a hotel, and I set up an Asian area near the Hong Kong market and started helping people. We helped people find housing and set them up with FEMA. After a few weeks, I got tired, and we returned to New Orleans in November. I brought all my stuff back, and we started helping people with FEMA. I went back and focused on the community. We went to the State Department and got the key to building the elementary school in our neighborhood. We reopened it and gutted it out. A lot of families and homes didn’t have enough insurance. The state came out with the Road Home Program to help families rebuild.

Interviewer: I'm sure those experiences added to your ability to work as a leader on the city council.

Cyndi: It really did. People knew what I had done in the community on the second run. In four years, I had to deal with a cyber attack on the city of New Orleans in 2019 to 2020. Right after, COVID-19 happened and I had the largest district in the city of New Orleans with the highest poverty community. Then we had Hurricane Ida. We all lost power for several weeks when I was in New Orleans. The day that Ida came, I was on the phone counseling people; one particular lady was on the phone with me. Her mom died at home when Ida came; I said, Bernadette, all you can do is get a blanket to cover mom up. It was not until the day after that I was able to get the coroner's office out to pick up her mom's body.

Interviewer: How do you balance your personal and work life?

Cyndi: I didn't even deal with balancing everything. I made a commitment to serve the people in District E, and my family knew that I sacrificed them.

Interviewer: How have you maintained Vietnamese culture and cultural traditions?

Cyndi: When I found myself as the executive director of a Vietnamese non-profit, I knew I needed to speak the language. I can be traditional. Common respect, values, and tradition are important to me.

Interviewer: What do you want to show throughout the anniversary event?

Cyndi: Through cooking, cultural awareness, and different workshops, I'm hoping to connect us to the greater community and allow some of our residents an opportunity to reflect, heal, and give a legacy to their children. We want to remove people's myths about the Vietnamese community and share our culture.

Interviewer: How do you see New Orleans evolving in the upcoming years, and what do you hope to see for your grandchildren?

Cyndi: My two granddaughters are Summer and Kenzie. In the next 20 years, Vietnamese will be more integrated into other neighborhoods. We've already started, particularly with our kids, who are moving out. For my grandkids, the goal is for them to continue to cherish their grandparent's values.

Interviewer: Do you think you are going to run for office again?

Cyndi: When I ran for reelection, people would say, Cindy, we have never had anybody that represented us like you did. I hosted 318 Facebook Lives when I was in the office. I used to go to people's homes and console them. I was hurt when some things were said, like; we've never had anybody that serviced us, represented us, and worked so hard like you, but you're not Black. To your question, I just can't put myself through it. I know that every community fights for somebody who looks like you to represent you. But just because they look like you doesn't mean they'll serve you.

Interviewer: How does it feel to be honored by TIME Magazine?

Cyndi: It was extremely humbling to be recognized, especially when many people are doing amazing work. And to be pinned out as an Asian girl who lives in New Orleans East in a village.

Interviewer: Would you say that Covid-19 was a really hard time to be a leader for New Orleans?

Cyndi: Yes. On March 7th, City Hall shut down, and everybody went home. I was talking to my husband, and it hit me. You're telling me that people have lost their jobs, grocery stores are going to be closed, and you can’t go outdoors. How are people going to survive? I started making calls and set up food distribution to families. I established partnerships, friends, and colleagues that helped us. I did it so much that I couldn't eat. My health started getting bad. It turns out that I'm anemic, and my hemoglobin was down to seven. I needed blood transfusions, an emergency hysterectomy, and gallbladder removal. In the midst of the work, though, I had no pain.

Interviewer: What are your favorite things to do if you have a day off?

Cyndi: Sleep and watch Lifetime and Hallmark movies. And, of course, I have my two granddaughters and my sons. My sons are in high school; I'm ensuring they enjoy their high school experience.

Interviewer: Thank you for taking the time to spend with us and tell us about you.