About Yasmin Nguyen

With the pandemic and the current state of the world, so many people are feeling stressed, anxious, depressed, burned out, and lonely.  Now more than ever, there is an urgency and need for mental fitness and emotional well-being.
 
In 2018, Yasmin Nguyen felt a deeper calling that led him to pack up his car to drive across America on an 18-month journey to discover, document, and share stories of real people, beautiful places and heart-opening experiences that bring us joy.
 
He created the Joyful Living Project www.joyfullivingproject.com  as a way to ignite positive change and remind us of all the good around us.
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Yasmin believes that we don’t have to wait for our circumstances to change to begin our healing. 
He believes that the catalyst for positive change lies within our simple daily experiences. 
And he believes that it starts with the gift of JOY.
 
On this Joyful Living Project journey, he connected with people and learned about their lives, their challenges, and their unique path to joy.  He discovered limiting beliefs that hold most people back from having more joy in their lives. 
He was invited to teach companies and communities practical strategies to elevate their culture and performance. He also inspired communities and organized life-giving experiences like generosity, gratitude, self-care to activate joy.  
 
Now, Yasmin is taking all the ideas, wisdom, and stories he learned and creating meaningful experiences that bring people together and help strengthen their mental fitness and emotional well-being.
 
He and his team are developing a new concept called “The Joy Gym” to reconnect millions of people every day as “Joy Makers” to practice simple habits that activate joy, strengthen their hearts and minds, and create a better world. Their practice will inspire confidence, genuine connection, physical wellness, prosperity, hope, belonging, compassion, resilience clarity, and of course joy!
 
To help people discover new ways to create joy in their lives, Yasmin will be launching a podcast where he will shares insightful conversations, inspirational stories, and practical tips to activate joy.
 
He is sharing his journey and insights from this project is his book “The Game of Joy: The Secret to Creating Your Own Happiness (Even When Life is Stressful)” to inspire more people to create joy.
 
 
His stories begin with fleeing communist Vietnam as a child, being rescued at sea as his boat sank, growing up as an immigrant in America overachieving to fit in, leaving corporate world to pursue 2 decades of entrepreneurship, giving it all up in a deep depression and burnout to find purpose and joy, and teaching the lessons of joyful living he’s discovered.
 
You are invited to join him and a movement of Joy Makers ready to live joyfully and make a difference in the world.

Hi, I'm Yasmin...

When I was 5 years old my mother, grandmother, and two younger siblings walked through the jungle in the middle of the night to board a small fishing boat. Fleeing Communist-controlled Vietnam, we were rescued at sea as our boat sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Reunited with our father a couple of years later in America, I grew up with little money and speaking only the English I learned watching 80’s TV sitcoms.

Wanting to fit in and feel important, I got involved and achieved all through school and my young adult life.  I was class Valedictorian, president of the band, president of the science club, treasurer of the math club, a member of the National Honor Society, the choir, French club, and tennis team.

You could say I was a bit of an overachiever.

After graduating college with a business degree and a 3.97 GPA, I entered the corporate world with what I thought was a dream consulting job. Fast forward 3 years, I realized that I had other dreams to explore.

Over the next 18 years I became an entrepreneur.  I starting half a dozen businesses including an internet photography company, an app development business, web design, real estate investing, food businesses, night club, and ecommerce store.

In the last 6 years, I’ve been a marketing strategist and filmmaker, helping  businesses and nonprofits share their powerful stories through video. I’ve had the honor of working with Fortune 500 executives, best-selling authors, and influencer like SARK, Ken Honda, Jonathan Fields, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. I’ve  also conducted over 500 video interviews, edited 10,000 hours of videos and produced more than 3,000 videos.

Interviews Conducted
Nonprofits Helped
Videos produced

Despite all the accomplishments and success, I had lost connection with who I was and what was most important.

In 2012, I suffered complete burnout trying to run 5 businesses. I had a hard time saying no to people and felt guilty for taking time off for myself. Overwhelmed, exhausted, and checked out, I left work one afternoon and headed to the Oregon Coast. That changed everything.

In the next 18 months, I returned to the coast 52 times witnessing it’s beauty and discovering a new way of living and working that healed my body, deepened my relationships, and transformed my life.  I reconnected with myself, my purpose, and what mattered most in my life. 

The Beauty I Experienced at the Oregon Coast

Yasmin's Coastal Photography: Instagram @OregonCoastlines

As a consultant, professional speaker, and business lifestyle coach, I empower business leaders and impact organizations with self-care and gratitude practices that reduce burnout, elevate performance, cultivate well-being, and build resilience.

I believe that when we intentionally create space in our lives for life-giving experiences like rest, growth, connection, and contribution, we refuel the fire of our impact. In the last 3 years, I refined my approach to helping overworked givers create more joy, freedom and connection through my Retirement Day Practice™ and Organizational Gratitude Practice™ methods.

As a professional speaker...

I love creating inspiration interactive, and transformational experiences when I speak to audiences. I specialize in topics around gratitude, work/life balance, self-care, and navigating major life transitions like divorce and career changes.

Here are some of my most frequently requested talks: Speaking Topics

Invited Speaker at these Organizations and Conferences

My inspiration for championing women leaders

In the last 9 months, I have had the honor of connecting with almost 500 women speaking at a number of leadership conferences and in one-on-one conversations.

Each time my heart fills with admiration and sadness by the countless stories of their drive, commitment, generosity, and achievement that also came at the price of sacrifice, exhaustion, and disconnection with joy and ultimately themselves. 

From the outside, many of these high-performing, successful business leaders have it all put together.  But deep down each shared a yearning for something more that seems to elude them.  Some call it balance while others craved lasting fulfillment, joy, and deeper purpose.

Fully dedicated to their work, family, and friends, many find themselves exhausted, overwhelmed, overcommitted and burned out.  They seem to always be last on their own list and often feel guilty for taking time off for themselves.  

Even though they have success financially and in their career, they can’t seem to find the pause button in their life so they can catch their breath and experience more than a fleeting moment of joy and relief.

I’ve noticed an underlying fear among these “overworked givers” that if for a moment, they let up, all the things they are holding together will fall apart and they will crumble under the weight of all that responsibility.  

Even though they know they need and crave self-care time, they can’t imagine the possibility of adding one more thing to their overflowing plate of to-dos.

Some have looked into the mirror with tears streaming wondering “How did I get here?  I’ve worked so hard. I’ve cared so much.”

I’ve also met quite a few incredible women who are navigating a major transition in their lives…divorce, career change, kids leaving the house, or reaching a milestone birthday (35, 40, 45, 50).  

Each share their version of “Who am I? What now? What do I want next in my life that is meaningful and FOR ME?

After years and even decades of putting their happiness, dreams, and passions in a box on the top shelf, they are now dusting off this box and rediscovering that special part of themselves that has always been there, but hidden and long forgotten.  When asked about joy, they often reply, “I don’t even know what brings me joy these days?

Having personally felt this pain and longing for more, I was compelled to create this “Joyful Living Project.”

Happiness doesn’t have to be elusive, and exhaustion doesn’t have to be a part of work and “success.” 

Imagine the profound impact you make when your body feels energized and your heart is filled with confidence, connection, clarity, inspiration, and love.

Based on what I’ve learned, I feel called to serve those who give so much of themselves, those leaders who are “overworked givers.”  

I am called to inspire possibilities and guide these change-makers to their own path of joy, connection, and freedom.

“A joyful life isn’t about others; it’s about the brightness that is associated with being alive. Your path to it is through anything that replaces thinking with pure flight, pure joy.”

As a philanthropist and community builder I've...

  • Volunteered with a number of nonprofits
  • Serving on the Board of Directors for the Portland New Generations Rotary Club
  • Created the “40 Causes in 40 Days” campaign to feature charities making an impact
  • Created strategic marketing partnerships with nonprofits and corporate supporters through my “Gratitude Inspired Giving” program
  • Hosted annual my “Thanksgiving in April” dinners to celebrate community leaders
  • Hosted monthly “Supper for Stars” dinners to bring together a community of influencers
  • Produced the “Philanthropy Talk” event with thought leaders, corporate sponsors, and community leaders

A Glimpse of Beauty that Brings me JOY!

My Travel Photography: Instagram @Yazpics