“You can have 99 rejections, and if you get one, you can have a successful career”

You have been recognized by numerous groups for your achievements, including being named one of the top 100 women of influence in Silicon Valley by the business journal. But your professional path wasn’t always easy, it wasn’t always smooth. You spent a couple of years working in Korea as a foreign legal consultant, but when you came back to the US, you had a really, really tough time finding a job. Can you share with us the challenges during that time? And how did you stay resilient through it all?

Thuy, it wasn’t just that time, I have a knack for really, really bad timing. When I graduated from law school, it was shortly after Black Monday that I started in my law firm in LA. And I had this image that I was going to be a big transactional lawyer, and there were no deals to be had. So, I ended up doing a stint in labor and employment. Which, in retrospect, it was a great experience for being an in-house lawyer, because it gave me exposure to not only litigation, but also the challenges that California employers face.
So, then I did go to Korea, and when I came back again, really, really bad timing, I came to the Bay Area, opened up The Recorder, which is the legal newspaper in the area, and the headline was, legal recession hits Bay Area, not likely to lift any time soon. So, not the most encouraging. And I had decided that I wanted to go in-house, I had tried firm practice, I had looked at maybe doing some work in government, but I thought, okay, this is something I want to try.
So, dating myself, I chose what I thought were the hundred top Bay Area companies, and I went to Kinko’s, and I printed out resumes and cover letters and sent out, mailed out a hundred letters, and I got essentially two responses. One was an invitation from the GC at Union Bank, who was kindly just offering to help. And the other was from the director of legal at Applied Materials, and he offered me a position as a contract lawyer. And that one opportunity…

Out of 100 that you applied to.

Out of 100, launched my in-house career. So, what I tell people is, it really only takes one, you can have 99 rejections, and if you get one, you can have a successful career. And I am ever so grateful for Jim DeLong. I’d tell him it was a transformational moment in my life for him to give me that opportunity.