To start off:
What is your name, occupation? Where can we find more info about you (linkage)?
Nellie Le – graphic designer, accessories designer, creative problem solver, overall average gal.
Brainchild of because, maybe.
tell me a story how you got into your line of work and your A-ha/life changing moment
Like most things, I think I got here by mistake. But in reality, I had planned this all along.
I’m just too much of a coward to own up to it. And I’m not afraid to admit it.
Looking back on growing up, I wasn’t sure where I was going to end up. I was constantly changing my mind every few years about what I wanted to be when I grow up. At some point in time, I wanted to be a veterinarian, children’s book illustrator, cartoonist, recording engineer, computer science engineer/programmer, the list can go on. Hell at one point, my best friend Nisa and I want to start a synthpop/electronica band called PimpSynth. But for the longest time, I thought I was going to follow in the footsteps of those before me and be a mechanical engineer. I come from a long line of engineers. Family gatherings are like a techie nerd fest. Many people are shocked when I tell them this because the majority of people who know me think I have too much character and personality to be an engineer. Well, I thought so too. Although I’ve always been really good at math and science, I would’ve been miserable and bored. Mostly bored.
I started at Cal Poly Pomona as a mechanical engineer in Fall 2004 and by Winter 2005 I had already changed my major to graphic design. I chose graphic design because I was very interested in web design and designed some flyers for extra cash when I was in high school. After two quarters worth of art classes, I felt that I was limited by what I could learn from Cal Poly so I applied and was accepted into Minneapolis College of Art and Design and was to start Spring 2006. So why Minneapolis? Well, my dad works at USC and through a tuition exchange program, I would have been able to attend for free. So came Spring, I left and threw myself into an unexpected situation. I had only been in Minneapolis for a week before I hopped on a plane and came back home. So what happened?
My lovely brother, who I love so dearly, lives in Minnesota and living so close to him and his wife drove me nuts. A lot of people don’t know about what happened in Minneapolis and my only real answer was that I had a mental breakdown. I came to a realization that my life was never really about me, it was about you and everyone else.
it’s worse than depression. everyone gets at least one. at some point in their lives. and for everyone, it’s different. but just imagine if one day you realized, that everything you believed to be true was a lie. and you just don’t know what to feel or what to believe. and you hate yourself and think you’re stupid. and you question everything and anything. one day you’re confused, the next day you’re angry, frustrated, sad, scared, pretty much you feel too many emotions at once that you’re body can’t handle it and you shut down.
I wasn’t at MCAD because I was aspiring to make something of myself. I was at MCAD because of some false belief that it matters where I get my degree from and that going to an art school would get me somewhere. And that created a big problem in the way I perceived myself and perceived life. I just felt like I lost myself somewhere back there and I needed to be back home to realize what it all meant. But I realized that what made me good and even great at what I do is, I care about people. I used to think that leaving Minneapolis was the worst decision I ever made. But these days, I think it was one of the best. So I went back to Cal Poly only because I was still technically enrolled and then transferred out to Cal State Long Beach in 2008 where I’ve been ever since.
I needed to forget who I was in order to understand who I really am.
So what about because, maybe.?
Well because, maybe. started in 2005. The name is a reference to Oasis’ “Wonderwall.” I use it to describe the state between reason and possibility. I originally started it with the intention of it being my graphic design working name, but it ended up being more associated with my knitwear work. At the time when I started selling my scarves and accessories, I didn’t have time think of another name for my accessories line so I just used because, maybe. It was an accident that my hobby took off before my career. Not that I’m really complaining because at the end of the day, I’m still doing what I love. And that’s fine by me. In the past year or two, I’ve been contacted by more boutiques that want to carry my accessories on consignment. And I think things are just getting better.
I think when it comes down to it, everyone thinks I’m talented. I just need to believe it for myself.
I’ve gotten to where I am because I work hard and I’ll keep working hard.
When I look back, the fact that I was always changing my mind was a foreshadowing of where I am now.
I don’t think of myself as being indecisive. I like to think that I’m constantly growing.
Where do you see yourself in 8 years?
Still doing this. Hopefully, I’ll have a lovely loft that I’ll be living and working out of in Pasadena.
8 months?
Working on the Spring Collection while recovering from the Fall semester.
8 days?
Recovering from this semester.
8 minutes?
Still working on this interview. I write/talk a lot.
8 seconds?
Finish typing this sentence.
tell me a story of your oddest dream or even recurring dream
Well, all my dreams are odd. I can’t really label one as being odder than the others.
But a lot of my dreams tend to be about end-of-the-world/birth-of-a-new-society scenarios.
what do you personally think is the meaning of life?
Understanding who you are, and not apologizing for it.
tell me a story about the last story you heard/read/saw that made you cry?
I don’t remember when was the last time I cried.
tell me a story of the most amazing thing you ever seen w/ your own eyes.
Fog so thick, that you can only see within a 3ft radius around you. Natural occurrences just amaze me.
tell me a story of the best vacation spot nobody knows about or that you stumbled upon randomly and how you found it
I still have yet to find the best vacation spot. I actually don’t go on vacation enough to pick a spot that’s the best. . i like to relax at home most of the time. or go find a nice little cafe to hang out at. i really love samovar in san francisco, they need to open a LA location. i like going to newport beach but i don’t get to go to the beach much. i don’t like getting a tan but i love the beach breeze and walking on the sand.
tell me a story about the strictest thing your parents made you do or didn’t let you do
tell me a story of of what was it like growing up in your hometown. what did you do on weekends?
if you went back to your ancestors homeland, tell me a story of what that was like?
What was your parents weapon of choice: fly swatter or chopsticks?
What is your ethnic background?
7/8 vietnamese, 1/8 french. and my mother almost named me Belle.
tell me a story of how your parents/grandparents came to america
My dad worked with my uncle at an industrial factory up until 1978. They lived in Saigon up until the fall. One night, my dad, uncle, and his family decided it was a good night to leave, so they grabbed a boat and left. At first they arrived at the Cambodian coast but they were chased away by the Cambodian government. A day passed and they started to approach the coast of Thailand, they saw some boats in the distance but didn’t know who they belonged to. They thought they were fishing boats but they ended up being Thai pirates. The pirates were looking for gold and valuables but found nothing, so they took the engine to the boat. After having to withstand a storm, they eventually got to Thailand. And from there, they were able to come to the states.
My mother didn’t come to the states until 1983 through a sponsor family. She came with my grandmother, my two brothers, and sister and they lived in Rochester, Minnesota. My dad was living in Glendale, California at the time. They knew each other because my mom was best friends with my aunt and they had owned a sandwich stand together back in Saigon. My dad convinced my mom to come to California. They all lived in a dinky little apartment in Monterey Park and moved to El Monte in 1986. I was born months later. My parents were never married.
tell me a story about how it was like growing up w/ them. what were their jobs? what was it like in your home?
My mother was a control freak. She was the boss. I tried a few times to ask my dad for permission to do things but if he said yes, my mother would overrule it. My mother made it a point to always remind me that I’m Vietnamese, not an American. She tried really hard to raise me as her perfect child because she was so dissatisfied with how my siblings turned out.
My dad has worked at USC’s Norris Cancer Hospital since he came to the US. When I was in kindergarten, my parents owned a toy shop named after me called “Nellie’s Boutique.” I remember really liking the typeface used for the logo.
we had a lot of fake food toys. there was this double decker tea party set that i loved. equipped with a double level tray cart to push around the 20 or so tea cups that were on it. and i remember there was this set that was supposed to be a chicken nugget fryer you fill with water and when you turned it on, the water would bubble and the nuggets would float around in it.
They had to file bankruptcy after being open for a year or less because my mom had to constantly close the store to pick me up from school because I was sick a lot. She spent a few years working at the Broadway and left before it was acquired by Macy’s. She spent the last years of her life as a real estate agent.
But in the last months, she came to really believe that I knew what I was doing and that I was going to be alright.
She always encouraged me to do things I liked and do them well.
tell me a story about the strictest thing your parents made you do or didn’t let you do
Where do i start. My mother was the ultimate boss bitch. My friends were afraid of her. My guy friends were especially afraid of her.
But i was not afraid of her.
These were her rules:
1. A-, that’s not good enough. why didn’t you get an A?
2. no dating until you’re 18 or 19.
3. no liking boys or thinking about them
4. no watching TV shows that involve teen romances or life drama(hence growing up on mostly cartoons, sci-fi, nerdy things)
5. no going to the mall with your friends unless one of their parents is going
6. no spaghetti strap tank tops or tube tops, wasn’t allowed to wear them until i was maybe 15. not a big deal though, i don’t even wear those now.
7. no talking on the phone unless it’s about homework
8. i got in trouble for any rumor about me liking (fill in a guys name here) even when i had nothing to do with it
9. got in trouble if too many boys called me in one night for homework help. and they actually did need help!
10. got in trouble for helping too many people with homework
Like any kid, I broke these rules and found ways around them.
but now that i’m older, i appreciate what she did even though i think some of her methods were overkill.
tell me a story of of what was it like growing up in your hometown. what did you do on weekends?
I was born and raised in El Monte, California. It’s where the 10 and the 605 meet. but I didn’t go to school in El Monte. I went to a Christian kindergarten in Arcadia, St. Stephen Martyr Catholic elementary school in Monterey Park, and Ramona Convent Secondary School which is an all-girls Catholic school in Alhambra. So I actually don’t know what it’s like to grow up in El Monte, but I do know what it’s like to grow up in the entire San Gabriel Valley. Most of my weekends involved going to Pho Hoa in the Focus Plaza on Valley Blvd. It’s not there anymore. I used to put so much sriracha in my pho that it made the broth bright red. I don’t eat my pho like that anymore. I just don’t enjoy eating things THAT spicy anymore. And in the evening, we would go to Fedco in Pasadena. Fedco was the greatest thing that everyone I know still remembers fondly.
if you went back to your ancestors homeland, tell me a story of what that was like?
i haven’t been back, i really have no interest in going back except for all the awesome fruit that’s way too expensive here or we just don’t have here.
Funny stories:
What did you think of Durian and it’s smell while growing up?
What did you think of Durian and it’s smell while growing up?
i loved it. i never had a problem with the taste or smell of it. i actually didn’t know what kind of a big deal it was until i went to school and other kids would talk about how gross it is.
What was your parents weapon of choice: fly swatter or chopsticks?
my weapon of choice: fly swatter, i’m quite deadly. parent’s weapon of choice: rolled up newspaper.
wait…i just realized that this is a question of discipline.
the answer is neither.
my mother loved using those really long feather dusters with the long wooden handles or a broom.
it hurt like hell. but my mother was also crazy enough to kick me out of the house for not wanting to clean my room. as she threw all my clothes out of the second story window.
she eventually let me back in because she was afraid i was going to break down the front door. i was only 7.
Lastly:
How would you like to be remembered?
dreaming the big dream, fighting the good fight.
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