Minh’s story

This month, we are featuring a series of stories from our Fellows, in their own words. We hope you’ll enjoy learning more about these remarkable young people, and how they are making our cities better places to live, work and play.

Grit – “the willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty” – is necessary to be successful, especially in public service. My experience as a City Hall Fellow
helped me embrace and develop my own grittiness. Without the leadership
development training I received as a Fellow, I do not believe I would have fully
understood my grit, my commitment to social change, or how I could make a
difference within the larger context of public policy and administration.
Before I became a City Hall Fellow, I knew nothing about city government
outside the televised City Council committee meetings I fell asleep to when I
was younger. The Fellowship taught me not just how to be gritty, but also how
cities work. It challenged me to become more resourceful, to take more
initiative, and to work harder for change at the local level.

This continues to be the mindset that drives me. Today I work in operations
management as an analyst in the City of Atlanta’s Office of the Mayor.
Essentially, my role is as an internal consultant to drive operational
efficiency and effectiveness. I work closely with city departments to measure
outcomes, coach departmental leadership, and drive projects and analyses that
meet the Mayor’s priorities and improve city operations.

Every day, I work hard to embody the gritty leader needed to push public service forward.
City Hall Fellows put me on this path and gave me the foundation to be
successful.

Minh Nguyen was a City Hall Fellow in Houston
in 2009-2010. Minh is a graduate of Davidson College.

Help us get more young people like Minh into local government.

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