Mind Over Matter

From Vietnamese Refugee To Silicon Valley Ceo, Tan Le Shares Her Inspirational Journey.

- Jodie Darlington 

One of Tan Le’s earliest memories is huddling close to her mother, sister and grandmother on an overcrowded tugboat. It was 1981 and four-year-old Tan and her family were fleeing postwar Vietnam in search of a better life. Throughout the perilous journey, Tan’s mother clutched a small vial of poison. The two women had agreed that if they were captured by pirates, they would first give some poison to the girls before drinking the rest themselves.

Five days later, when they had run out of food and water, they were rescued by a British oil tanker. They spent three months in a Malaysian refugee camp before boarding another boat – this time bound for Melbourne, Australia. Although Tan’s memories of this time are faint, she often thinks about how different her life would have been if she hadn’t boarded that boat. “I can see that I wouldn’t be the person I am today, because the opportunities would have been very different for us,” the 42-year-old says.

After the family settled in Melbourne, Tan’s mother juggled multiple jobs to put her daughters through school. Quiet and studious, Tan was a high achiever from a young age and started her law degree when she was just 16. “If I were given an opportunity to do it again, I probably wouldn’t choose to be accelerated,” she reflects. “There were definitely some advantages and I was able to accomplish a lot of things early, but life is marathon, not a sprint. It would have been nice to have had more time to enjoy my youth.”