Nikitha Ajith
Master of Digital Business
Lanie Nguyen
Lanie Nguyen moved from Vietnam to New Zealand to pursue her passion for supply chain management. She didn’t let the language barrier stop her from achieving straight As, and now she's completing her master's at Waikato.
Hamilton
PVC Prize for Management Studies 2024
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Growing up in Vietnam, Lanie (Ngoc Uyen Linh) Nguyen was always encouraged to be independent. So it came as no surprise that she chose to move to New Zealand at the age of 19 and study at the University of Waikato.
Now working towards a Master of Business majoring in Supply Chain Management, Lanie has already completed a three-year Bachelor of Business with double majors in Digital Business and Supply Chain Management.
On arriving at the university's campus in Hamilton, she first lived in the student halls before moving into a flat with a group of friends.
“My parents didn't want me to be dependent on anyone else," says Lanie. "They taught me how to cook, clean, and manage things on my own so I wouldn't need to ask people for help.”
The language barrier is one of the challenges Lanie faced when interacting with Kiwis. “Sometimes I don’t really understand what people mean because Kiwis use slang and speak very fast!" she laughs.
But Lanie didn't let that hold her back from academic success - she achieved straight As every single year of her degree.
“After each class I would listen back to the recording of the lecturer to catch every detail,” she explains.
She values the close-knit learning environment of Waikato University, where smaller class sizes mean easy access to her lecturers.
For the past two years, Lanie has also been tutoring a number of undergraduate papers - something she finds incredibly rewarding.
“I love tutoring. When a student comes up to thank me after class, that's the best reward, seeing more students do well."
Her interest in studying Supply Chain Management was first sparked by her mother, a university lecturer in Vietnam, and it’s now become Lanie’s passion.
“During my business degree I got to do a three-month internship at Fisher and Paykel Healthcare in Auckland as a production planning intern. It gave me exposure to different areas of supply chain management, and helped me decide on a research topic for my master's degree - and possibly even a PhD thesis."
Lanie hopes to return to work for Fisher and Paykel Healthcare after completing her studies at the University of Waikato.
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