String Nguyen loves fried chicken, embracing it as an essential part of her personal brand. She's a video evangelist on LinkedIn, working towards creating a community of video storytellers.
In 2017 and 2018, she was voted LinkedIn Top Voice for her creative and inspiring content.
String on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/stringstory
String on Instagram:
@stringstory
Verbatim from the transcripts — each quote links to the moment.
“Yeah, I know how to like growth hack the algorithm.”
“I love them because I could throw fried chicken at them.”
“People ask me, it's like, you know, did you have a poor childhood? Like, no, it's the best childhood. I was laughing all the time.”
“Google is the library now.”
“My best champions are dads because they want to make sure that there's like their daughters have someone to look up to and it's like it's not a shit world that we live in.”
“Your website is your digital castle at the end of the day.”
How do you build a sticky, memorable personal brand?
Pick a simple, relatable visual or verbal signature (like fried chicken) tied to your authentic interests, repeat it consistently across platforms, and use it as a filter to identify people who already resonate with your content.
How do you decide which platform to commit to for growing an audience?
Try to be a first mover on an emerging platform, stream/post consistently every day, and once established, diversify by syndicating content (e.g., to YouTube for better SEO) while keeping your core content and message consistent across platforms.
Should you work for free early in your creative career?
Yes, working for free early on helps build reputation, portfolio, and systems; set yourself a deadline (e.g., six months) and then start trialing and increasing prices to find your market value.
How should creatives think about money and sustainability?
Establish a clear budget and cash flow so creativity isn't hindered by financial stress; automate saving a percentage of income, and build professional, organized back-end systems (like proposals and packages) to be taken seriously by brands.
How do you network effectively without seeming 'gross' or overly salesy?
Focus on building genuine relationships over the long term rather than outbound pitching; rely on inbound interest driven by authentic content and personality, and look for signals (shared references, acknowledgment of your work) that indicate real interest versus copy-paste outreach.
String describes being raised in commission flats in Flemington by a single refugee mother with five kids, framing it as a joyful childhood full of street games, soccer, and self-defense lessons from neighborhood boys, rather than a disadvantaged one.
String's mother, a single mother of five, used the local library as free childcare and educational resource, instilling a love of learning (including reading about Freud at age 12) and framing education as the route out of poverty.
String explains how she used Meerkat's integration with Twitter to stream daily and rapidly grew a large following, becoming a top creator before the app was squeezed out by Periscope.
String recounts being approached by LinkedIn to be an early video user on the platform after they noticed her content, leading to her content going viral and establishing her LinkedIn presence.
A contact from her Meerkat community, described as a patron who backs founders, funded/hosted String for six months in San Francisco, connecting her with the tech and startup scene (including a Product Hunt association), despite her initial suspicion of his motives.
Drawn from the episode transcripts.
Vision (your long-term North Star purpose), values (business and personal), volk (the people/community you serve and collaborate with), visuals (consistent visual identity like her fried chicken motif), voice (tone and key messages), validation (goals and KPIs), and victory (making money sustainably from your brand).
From episode 326→She loves fried chicken and found it to be a highly relatable, culturally universal food that acts as a 'sticky' branding device; it also serves as a filter so that when people mention fried chicken in messages to her, she knows they already understand her content and are part of her community.
From episode 326→She started on the live-streaming app Meerkat, posting daily and growing 44,000 followers in six months as a top creator, then moved to Snapchat (winning an award for a Women in Tech channel) before transitioning to LinkedIn when the platform invited her to be an early video user, after which she went viral.
From episode 326→Mentioned on 1 episode Stringwasn’t on.
Every episode featuring String "String" Nguyen on The Daily Talk Show.
