We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Soon Hagerty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Soon below.

Hi Soon, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from my background, family and upbringing. I moved here when I was almost 5 years old as one of the Boat People from Vietnam. I was a refugee after my Dad fought alongside the Americans/South Vietnamese to fight for Democracy. We had to leave after the war as they were going to force my Dad to go into a “re-education camp”.
We landed in the U.S. with $300 in our pockets with 7 kids in tow after spending nearly six months in a refugee camp in Indonesia. My parents had to leave their family and start all over again in America without anyone except my uncle to help us. To this day, my parents don’t talk about the past very much. They have always just thought about the future, what’s next, what are my next 4-5 steps? How will I think smarter vs. just work harder.
They are a true inspiration for determination, no excuses, no complaining yet exhibit positivity and focus. They taught me that pity and wishing you were dealt a better hand is a waste of time.
I learned so much not only from them but my siblings who also had to get jobs as teens to help support our family. My family is my true inspiration on so many levels.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My background is in brand strategy, communications and events but my love is building brands, building businesses, making an impact and marrying those together so they could be a force for both Growth and Good.
I have owned two PR/Marketing Events firms in Los Angeles and in 2018 launched a mission based Vietnamese restaurant in N. Michigan where I currently live after recognizing the need for more diverse food and culture in the area. My restaurant I co-founded with my partner Tony Vu donates $1 per bowl to charity as a way to thank the U.S. for taking our families in as refugees from Vietnam.
I think my family’s background in building something from nothing ended up having a instrumental impact in all I do. I didn’t realize this until my late 20s after entering the professional workforce. My parents raised me to be hard working, forward looking and that you have to do something different if you want something different for yourself.
I was also SVP of Brand Strategy at my husband’s company, Hagerty where I worked as a consultant than in a full time role for almost 20 years. I left the full time position late last year to launch a nonprofit that my husband McKeel and I created called Boundless Futures Foundation to help female founders. The focus of the Foundation is to lend financial and leadership support to female entrepreneurs that help solve a social issue whether it is by their product or part of their business model.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think a great leader and entrepreneur exhibits three key qualities
1. Growth Mindset – always looking at ways to evolve your thinking, looking at feedback through the lens of leveraging usable truths and to constantly be curious in ways that you can grow and expand your mind and skills
2. Set the Bar High and People will Self Select Out – never lower your expectations for yourself, your friends or your co-workers because you are unsure you can reach the goal. Set the bar high, stay focused on what you believe is important for success in both work and relationships
3. Looking at risks as a way to learn – if you never takes risk or try new things you will never know what you are capable of. I love that quote “A boat is safest at harbor but that’s not what’s its made for.” Trying new things will only add to your experience bank.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
My biggest area of growth has been managing my own mind and internal dialogue. I have my hands in several things from being a Senior Advisor with Hagerty, Global Advisor with How Women Lead, running my nonprofit Boundless Futures Foundation, running a restaurant and being a Mom/Wife.
I list all these things as they are all very different things, in different industries and many times requires different modes of thought.
I’ve started to implement a very disciplined morning routine of grabbing a cup of coffee when I get up, keeping my room dark, lighting a candle and meditating immediately when I wake up. Then I go downstairs and journal to reflect on the previous day but also to set my goals/intentions for what to focus on for the day. I make a commitment to myself to do this daily prior to looking at my phone or email. I do this so I can be in my charge of my priorities vs. letting an email or text control my day or mindset.
I think an amazing side effect of this is that I’ve noticed my mind is more clear, sharp and focused.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.boundless-futures.local
- Instagram: soonhagerty
- Facebook: Soon Hagerty
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/soon-hagerty-5637448/




Image Credits
Scarlett Piedmonte
Kayla Keenan
This story originally appeared at: Bold Journey