Annie Vang // S2 Ep 178 // Preserving Hmong Cultural History With HmongPhrases

Welcome back to Season 2, Episode 178 of the Asian Hustle Network Podcast! We are very excited to have Annie Vang on this week's show.

We interview Asian entrepreneurs around the world to amplify their voices and empower Asians to pursue their dreams and goals. We believe that each person has a message and a unique story from their entrepreneurial journey that they can share with all of us. Check us out on Anchor, iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, TuneIn, Spotify, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a positive 5-star review. This is our opportunity to use the voices of the Asian community and share these incredible stories with the world. We release a new episode every Wednesday and Saturday, so stay tuned!

Annie Vang is an iOS application developer. Annie has over twenty years of experience in application development: 10+ years of mobile application development and 10+ years of web application development. Annie currently works for American Family Insurance as an iOS application developer. Annie is also the founder of Golden Fireflies LLC, which provides digital services. In addition, Annie developed an app called HmongPhrases to teach simple Hmong phrases to preserve the Hmong language. Annie also developed an app called Yumaholic to teach Southeast Asian recipes.

Annie is passionate about technology and aspires to use her talents to build meaningful apps. Annie also enjoys creating southeast Asian cooking tutorials on her HmongFood Youtube channel, which has 68,000+ subscribers and 12.6 million video views.

Annie was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and came to the United States as a refugee following the Vietnam War. Annie is Hmong American. She learned English as a second language, and she used this skill to help translate for her parents. Growing up, Annie's family moved around a lot, and she has lived in various places such as Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, and Rhode Island. This experience helped shape Annie's ability to be adaptive and embrace change.

Annie faced many obstacles and challenges in her quest for professional development. Number one: discouraged higher education because she was married with a child. Number two: discouragement in IT development because she was a woman and a minority. She fought hard to prove herself and continues to fight for a seat at the table.

Today Annie lives in Deforest, WI (north of Madison) with her husband. Annie has one son and four grandchildren. Annie enjoys sewing, embroidery, cooking, crafting, and spending time with her grandchildren in her free time.