Thuy is in Her Bag
Growing up in a Vietnamese refugee family, Oakland native Thuy (pronounced "twee") struggled to find balance between her dreams and her parents' expectations. Like many '90s kids, she idolized the decade's pop stars — namely Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera — as well as R&B vocalists like Brandy. And though she never saw a face that looked like hers on screen, she held on tightly to her innate musical talent in hopes of one day making it as a singer. "I come from a traditional family with a traditional mindset, culture and values," she recalls. "It was really hard for them to get to America, and they ingrained that in me, my brothers and my sisters from a very young age."
In an effort to please her immigrant parents, Thuy, born Thuy Tran, obtained a Bachelor's degree at UC Santa Barbara. But after graduating and finding a job at an optometry clinic, she still knew something was missing in a big way. "I didn't feel like I had a reason, or a purpose in life," she laments. "But I met someone: my boyfriend Charles [Charron]. He would always be in the studio and one time I just asked him, 'Can I tag along?'. The first time I got there, I instantly had this weird, gravitational pull to it."