MEET JOCELYN NGUYEN – A YOUNG TECH ENTREPRENEUR

Imagine someone who is young that’s a model, content creator, AND a tech entrepreneur. That’s Jocelyn!

Jocelyn shares, “I’m a petite fashion model and content creator. I am the founder of a tech startup called Vivefi.” She is currently a senior at the University of Houston and is studying Psychology and Technology Leadership & Innovation Management. Her creative experience is vast including “booking fashion and beauty commercials and photography campaigns, creatively directed projects, and collaborated with many artists in the music, fashion, and business industries.” Like many creatives, her experiences has enlightened her on what her passions are, and gave her an outlet to express herself through “content, art, creativity, and technology.” However, she uniquely prides herself in her grass roots journey of “becoming an expert in the creative world.” With that goal, she started Vivefi and is working on developing technologies that will “give creators the tools to integrate the creative process- revolutionizing collaborative networks.”

What is Vivefi? The Founder/CEO Jocelyn shares, “Vivefi is an all-in-one collaboratory network for creators- people in the creative economy. There is this problem that many creators face, which is connecting with each other and synchronized collaborating. Vivefi is the solution to that problem. It is a technology powered tool that helps creators find each other (so imagine if you go to a new city and you want to work with a photographer, how can you find one without knowing anyone in that city?). Not only that but Vivefi provides tools to help with the creative process of collaborating with others- moodboard, calendar, to-do lists, etc. Vivefi is sort of that sweet spot between LinkedIn and Instagram. The intention to network and create together.” Joss’s admirable efforts are pure as she strives to bridge the gap that that market has left open for far too long.

The company launched recently and although it is in its early stages, the community she has already built is quite strong already. It is worth checking out and if you are a creative, this might be your new creative home base! You never know until you try! Joss encourages anyone to join and to spread the word about what Vivefi is. Tech startups like these thrives on community. (Follow us on IG: @vivefi.inc or TiKToK & Twitter: @vivefi)

“Tech startups are like running a marathon. It doesn’t happen overnight.” – Jocelyn Nguyen

No person walks towards success without falling down a couple of times. For Jocelyn, she had to face her own personal flaws in order to get to where she is today. The ultimate challenge she had to face was to tackle her fear of success. Although it seems silly, many people have this fear as reaching a destination can sometimes feel like the end of your story. The young entrepreneur expresses that she “let this fear of actually succeeding or becoming my fullest self hold me back. I had these mental blocks or I would subconsciously hold myself back with distractions, toxic people, or disbelief to consume my life.” She added that a poem really opened her eyes and that was by Marianne Williamson called “Our Deepest Fear.” The revelation that she can break those negative “psychological patterns,” believe in herself and not care how she may be perceived, allowed her to say “the world became mine.”

“I also think that my kind of mindset is always striving to self improve or betterment. If you aren’t growing then you are dead. “ – Jocelyn Nguyen

In life, when challenges come, so does failures. For Jocelyn, she proudly emphasizes that failure is what defined her life the most. Failures, for her, comes in all forms and faces, “I’ve ‘failed’ my family for not being who they expected me to be. I ‘failed’ at many relationships (not just romantically). And with being an entrepreneur, there are many failures you will face because it’s all about ‘trial and error’. Not to mention, modeling, putting myself out there, sometimes you won’t be accepted to the agency you think you’re perfect for or get the gig that you really wanted.” When she fails, she sees it as an opportunity to evolve through reflection and analyzation, “It makes me question, what I did to get there, how could I have done it differently, and then accept what happened so that I can move on knowing the knowledge I gained from the failure.” She puts it nicely that, “Failure is inevitable and once you accept that then you are free from disappointment. The important part is that you learn, improve, and keep trying.”

As Jocelyn wears multiple hats in her life, it harbors curiosity in how she was able to handle it all without, you know, breaking apart. She assures us that “I do manage a lot of things at once, but I’m not multi-tasking.” She shares her wisdom to those who are currently trying to navigate their responsibilities like she is, “My advice would be know your limits- don’t burn out because you think you aren’t doing enough. You are doing more than enough so don’t compare yourself to anyone else. Remember that you are a human-being that has needs other than work or school. You are a social being so make time for loved ones. You have a physical body so take care of it, listen to it. Take time to be with it, because if you aren’t making time for wellness, you will eventually have to make time for illness.” Her maturity is clear and this advice is nothing less that truthful.

Jocelyn recommends to those who want to keep organized to use Notion, “which is an online productivity tool/notebook.” She also practices “digital minimalism” so her devices “aren’t ever cluttered or unorganized.” Another tip she shares was, “I also usually set 3-5 things that I need to get done in the day to consider it productive.” Despite all this, she strongly believes in living presently, making time for things she genuinely enjoys doing.

In a world of influencer culture, Jocelyn doesn’t necessarily have someone she wants to be like or follow in their footsteps, “First of all, I am myself and on my own unique journey so there’s no one in the world that could ever really be me or vise versa.” However, she does really admire Rihanna “as a business woman and her journey as an artist.” She also states that those in her close circle are also her biggest influences because she’s selective with who’s in that circle and she knows they make an impact on her life. Her last comment on influencers of her life is her brother Joshua Nguyen, “I love him with all my heart and want nothing but the best for him. He’s someone I wish I was at his age.”

When asked on her opinion in the influencer culture and partaking in it, Jocelyn believes that social media is a tool for her creative endeavors. However, like any work you take on, it shouldn’t consume your life, “I use it to just share my work and then log out. I don’t get consumed in the number of likes, followers, or views. I just genuinely like making content and social media has made it easier to share it with others.” She’s aware that she’s a micro-influencer on social media but she doesn’t like to call herself one. She just tries to lives as authentically as possible “and through that it would inspire those who are watching to do so too.” As a culture, she finds social media’s impact to be interesting yet questionable, “I find this new generation or era of social media to be interesting… it’s become something of the “norm”. So sometimes I wonder how it will impact us socially… or the way we interact with each other.”

As we are more knowledgeable in what’s going on in the world and in our society, lots of issues arises, and often times can lead to a sense of helplessness. Jocelyn can identify with that as well but she decided that what she can do far outweighs her worries. She intends to solves one problem within the creative industry, and change the narrative society has placed upon the people within it. And that is with Vivefi, “With Vivefi, I’m solving the problem of encouraging those to pursue their creative endeavors. I always hated the myth of the ‘struggling artist’ or how if you are in a STEM career- that’s the ‘only’ way to succeed. That there is this status quo to ‘success’ or a fulfilled life… that’s a whole bunch of poop. You can control what you want out of this life and if you know that you love designing, creating, painting, dancing, etc. then go for it. I think we just don’t have the proper tools to help us leverage our platforms and work. That’s really the core of my passion in building Vivefi. I’m taking the steps to solve this problem.”

Jocelyn Nguyen is such an empowering person with a heart of gold. Her efforts to solve a problem within the creative industry is admirable, and we can only imagine how great she’d be in a couple of years. Follow her on her journey through Instagram and TikTok, and you will not be let down. If you’re interested in joining Vivefi, click here! It’s free to join!

Bonus Question: Favorite anything, and why? (movies, fashion pieces, beauty, people, places, etc.) 

Jocelyn has many things that she likes but here are some of the many she shared with us 🙂

“I do love my family… They drive me nuts sometimes but I’m really glad that I have the family that I do and (after years of healing and growing) they love me for me and support everything that I do. For fashion… I do enjoy thrifting or buying ethical clothing. I have a hobby of finding new individual designers to buy unique pieces from to spice up my wardrobe. My style changes with my mood, but for the most part, I think I dress monochromatically. Beauty… SKIN is everything. Your foundation. So wear sunscreen everyday, even if you don’t go outside. But, for make up, I’m pretty minimal, but I do love a bold lip color. I enjoy the little things a lot like homemade cards/letters from people, fresh flowers, healthy fresh foods. I can’t really explain why I like all these things, but I for sure can explain when I don’t like something… but, that’s a whole different story.”