Leslie V. Nguyen-Okwu is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees and Nigerian immigrants, and the author of American Hyphen, a forthcoming memoir about race, identity, and belonging across the Asian and Black diaspora. She worked as a foreign correspondent covering displacement, statelessness, and contested nations with bylines in The New York Times, BBC, National Geographic, The Economist, and Harper's Bazaar. She has partnered with Google, Airbnb, HTC, and other companies on storytelling projects centering underrepresented voices.
Leslie earned a Bachelor's in International Relations from Stanford University, studied a Master’s in Public Policy at Harvard University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction at Saint Mary's College of California — all on competitive merit scholarships. She serves as Director of Strategic Communications at Welcoming America, a national nonprofit advancing immigrant inclusion. In this role, she leads narrative change strategy, trains local leaders on immigrant rights messaging, and shapes national campaigns building belonging for refugees and immigrants across the United States.
Her writing has earned awards, fellowships, and residencies from the Asian American Journalists Association, Tin House, Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, Disquiet International Literary Program, Kundiman, Hedgebrook, the Community of Writers, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, GrubStreet, and Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. She was named a finalist for the de Groot Foundation's Courage to Write Award and has performed her work on PBS World.
In 2022, Leslie battled a rare, aggressive cancer while attending graduate school at Harvard, balancing chemo with classes while carrying a portable infusion pump. Today, she's in full remission. That experience reshaped everything: her sense of urgency, her commitment to second chances, and her belief that telling our stories is survival work. She lives and writes with that knowledge, making every page count.
Previously, she worked as a technology reporter in Silicon Valley and a foreign correspondent in Asia. Special assignments included getting a knife massage in Taiwan, interviewing persecuted pop stars in Vietnam, and going under the needle for a traditional magic tattoo in Cambodia. Fluent in Mandarin, Leslie is a member of the Black China Caucus and the National Association for Black Engagement with Asia. In her spare time, Leslie finds joy in performing improv and stand-up comedy, tackling full marathons and Spartan races, embarking on multi-day mountain treks, and coaching workouts as a volunteer fitness instructor.
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Leslie earned a Bachelor's in International Relations from Stanford University, studied a Master’s in Public Policy at Harvard University, and is currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction at Saint Mary's College of California — all on competitive merit scholarships. She serves as Director of Strategic Communications at Welcoming America, a national nonprofit advancing immigrant inclusion. In this role, she leads narrative change strategy, trains local leaders on immigrant rights messaging, and shapes national campaigns building belonging for refugees and immigrants across the United States.
Her writing has earned awards, fellowships, and residencies from the Asian American Journalists Association, Tin House, Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation, Disquiet International Literary Program, Kundiman, Hedgebrook, the Community of Writers, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, GrubStreet, and Martha's Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. She was named a finalist for the de Groot Foundation's Courage to Write Award and has performed her work on PBS World.
In 2022, Leslie battled a rare, aggressive cancer while attending graduate school at Harvard, balancing chemo with classes while carrying a portable infusion pump. Today, she's in full remission. That experience reshaped everything: her sense of urgency, her commitment to second chances, and her belief that telling our stories is survival work. She lives and writes with that knowledge, making every page count.
Previously, she worked as a technology reporter in Silicon Valley and a foreign correspondent in Asia. Special assignments included getting a knife massage in Taiwan, interviewing persecuted pop stars in Vietnam, and going under the needle for a traditional magic tattoo in Cambodia. Fluent in Mandarin, Leslie is a member of the Black China Caucus and the National Association for Black Engagement with Asia. In her spare time, Leslie finds joy in performing improv and stand-up comedy, tackling full marathons and Spartan races, embarking on multi-day mountain treks, and coaching workouts as a volunteer fitness instructor.
Follow: Twitter | LinkedIn
