Lisa Nguyen is the owner of HeyDay Doughnuts, a bakery that specializes in rice flour donuts and Vietnamese baked goods. Nguyen created HeyDay during the height of the pandemic and has collaborated with multiple businesses as a pop-up bakery. In 2023, HeyDay moved into their own space at Collective Oregon Eateries.
In this interview, Nguyen describes the multiple places she has lived and where she has felt most at home. She lived in Singapore for two years and describes how it was an environment where she felt she could be her most authentic self. She describes the culture shock of returning to the U.S. and settling in Portland: she was worried about her children facing discrimination and feeling isolated from the community. But through the creation of HeyDay, she was able to connect with other Vietnamese Americans and BIPOC businesses. As a BIPOC business owner, she describes her role in sharing her culture and helping people reconnect with their roots. Similarly as a parent, she describes how she is teaching her children to embrace their roots. She concludes the interview by describing how each generation has a set of different challenges, but she is hopeful because of the self awareness younger generations have.