Today we’d like to introduce you to Trang Mai.
Trang, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My parents and I came to America when I was younger, with empty hands, empty pockets, and full hearts. Very much an American dream meets rags-to-riches story, my parents both worked from the bottom up to get to where they are today. Like many other immigrants, we came from humble beginnings, my entire family living in one bedroom. Many bedroom upgrades, school transfers, and countless struggles later, my mother is now a successful business owner with my father managing the operations behind it. Today, I am practicing my Doctorate of Pharmacy degree working as a full-time manager in the pharmacy community, with the means to share my love for fashion.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
One of the biggest myths that many of us today are challenged with is the idea that your college major will define you, that your job becomes your life. I really do enjoy my job right now as a pharmacy manager, but I struggled for a part of my life with the fear of failure, that if I failed at achieving my career, I failed at life. I believe that it is important to work hard at your job, but there is so much more to discover in life than that. So, as far as career advice goes, I could talk about dreams, ambitions, and the obvious, but our generation is so amazing and so far beyond that. Instead, I would like to emphasize what many of the greats talk about but is still often overlooked—failure. While on our journey, we will face difficulties, setbacks, confusion, and a fear of the future that makes us afraid to move forward. But failing, getting lost, even hitting rock bottom, is exactly what you need to find success. My advice is the same as I’d give to my own sister: Keep moving forward to do what you can with what you have at this moment in your life. Whatever you may feel in the moment, do so with humility and grace, remembering that failure is never fatal and success is never final.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
Although I work in the field of pharmacy, I have deep ties to fashion and the arts. Raised by a photographer father and seamstress mother with a knack for business, I have been surrounded my entire life by textures, colors, and an appreciation for detail.
I think it’s what I have in common with others that allows them to connect to me. I am just an ordinary girl with a regular job, sharing her love for fashion and style. Through sharing my passion, I have been able to connect with so many wonderful women outside of the healthcare world that I would have never been introduced to otherwise. I plan on pursuing my passion further, but as I am still starting on my path, I do not know exactly what my next steps will be. But that is the beauty of it! I am so very grateful for those following with me on my journey. I think as long as I am still able to inspire and be a light for someone, I am on the right path.
Who have you been inspired by?
I’ve been fortunate to cross paths with strong women my entire life, with amazing mentors and beautiful women inside and out. But the woman that will always be my biggest influence is my mother.
They say if you want to see how a girl will turn out, look at her mother, and I can only dream of being half as amazing as she is (and I’m not just talking about how beautiful, classy, and adorable she is). Don’t let her size fool you, this little woman is fiercer and stronger than anyone I know. Over 25 years ago, she left her family and came to the States with my dad and her children, and every single day since then she has not paused. When I was in high school, she left an underpaid and overworked job to single-handedly start her own business, and today, that business is thriving. In between building an entire business from the ground up, she still was adamant to take us to school every single day, cook dinner every night, teach us about God, teach us the value of family. Through traumas and dramas, she has been there every step of the way for her husband, and my dad would truly not be the person he is today without her.
For more than 25 years, she has been through all the highs and lows of marriage, motherhood, and life here in the States without her best friends, her dear sisters, or her parents by her side, but recently after ten years of paperwork, her sisters finally were able to join her this June. When they packed their entire lives to come to the States, my mother had already prepared an entire house for them to live in and jobs for them to make a living in the business she had started. To find a woman who can be both strong and nurturing, fierce with a soft heart, to find someone so ambitious, fearless, and so full of faith, my dad was lucky to have found her but truly smart to have chosen her. How could I not be a strong woman when this woman’s example is how I’ve lived my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: trangoffduty.com/lookbook
- Email: hello@trangoffduty.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/trangoffduty
Image Credit:
Tommy Do and Duong Mai
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