Suzan Nguyen

Be Better, Not Bitter

Suzan was involved in a traumatic car accident at the age of 22, and as a result of that, her right arm was amputated. She was in the worst place she had ever known. She wasn’t sure if she was going to recover and there were many moments where she wasn’t sure if she would make it out alive. Suzan had to retrain her brain to be positive, to remain resilient and to persevere. It wasn’t easy but giving up and giving in to the negativity was not an option.

In this keynote, Suzan shares her journey with students and teaches them to discover a path where they choose to Be Better, Not Bitter.

She shares her experience in overcoming major adversity and the trials and tribulations that led her to embrace and accept her new reality. Suzan connects with her audiences on a very personal and emotional level as she shares my journey through the darkness of being bitter, and into the light of being better.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• Embrace Vulnerability as a Strength:
  Learn how opening up—rather than bottling up—creates deeper connection, reduces burnout, and builds community. Audiences leave understanding that vulnerability fuels leadership, belonging, and growth.
• Recognize, Confront, and Transform Personal Pain:
  Discover how to face internal challenges (stress, negative thinking, comparison, identity struggles) instead of avoiding them. Participants walk away with tools to identify “Why me?” moments and turn them into “Watch me” moments.
• Break the Cycle of Automatic Negative Thoughts (A.N.T.s):
  Understand how mindset patterns form and learn strategies to interrupt them, reframe them, and rebuild confidence. This takeaway boosts mental clarity, emotional resilience, and problem-solving skills in any environment.
• Build Self-Worth From Within:
  Learn practical strategies to reconnect with your value and identity—beyond grades, job titles, expectations, or roles. Both students and professionals leave feeling empowered to trust themselves and take up space.
• Strengthen Resilience & Reengage Hope:
  Gain evidence-based resilience practices to navigate adversity, setbacks, and uncertainty—whether in work, life, or school. This includes learning how to stay grounded in the “deep darkness” seasons and still move forward.
• Turn Pain Into Purpose:
  Understand how your lived experience can become fuel for leadership, compassion, and impact. This takeaway helps both groups use their hardest moments to shape their values, careers, and relationships.
• Create a Joy Strategy You Can Use Daily:
  Participants receive practical tools like gratitude practices, emotional check-ins, and micro-moments of joy. This supports mental health, performance, and overall well-being.
• Foster Empathy & Inclusive Community:
  Learn how empathy—toward self and others—creates safer, stronger environments where people feel seen and supported. This applies to classrooms, teams, organizations, and personal relationships.

Be Better Not Bitter means you walk away knowing how to:

Face your pain with courage instead of avoidance.

Transform setbacks into strength and self-worth.

Choose joy, purpose, and emotional resilience—daily.

Dignity in Disability: How Empathy creates stronger communities

Imagine starting your day as a fully-abled-bodied person, experiencing a life-changing car accident, and ending your day having lost an arm.

This was the reality Suzan Nguyen experienced at the age of 22 years young.

Learning to live as an amputee while facing significant life changes and navigating endless challenges put Suzan in her darkest moments.

In this program, Suzan takes you on a journey through life from a disabled lens. She will speak about her experiences from having to re-learn basic life tasks after the loss of her arm to facing daily microaggressions. Suzan will share how a mortifying incident at her local grocery store led to her training the store’s staff and inspiring a more inclusive and respectful culture toward the disabled community.

When living with a disability, you are given a choice to live with dignity or shame. In this inspirational program, audiences will learn how they themselves can live with dignity and give dignity to others.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• Approach with Empathy:
  Learn how to connect authentically and compassionately with people living with disabilities—fostering understanding rather than assumption.
• Practice Inclusive Awareness:
  Discover how language, behavior, and unconscious bias shape campus culture, and how small shifts can create spaces of dignity and belonging.
• Be an Active Ally:
  Gain tools to recognize everyday opportunities to support peers with empathy and respect, building stronger, more unified communities.
• Lead with Compassion:
  Understand how embracing difference enhances leadership, teamwork, and resilience—skills that extend far beyond campus life.
• Turn Insight into Action:
  Walk away with simple, practical steps to create inclusive environments where every student feels seen, valued, and empowered.

The Resilience Toolbox

Adversity is inevitable.

Having resilience, or the ability to adapt well to life’s challenges, offers numerous benefits, including improved mental and physical health, enhanced coping mechanisms, and a greater sense of well-being.

Resilience is crucial because it enables individuals and systems to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity, manage stress, and continue to grow and improve over time. It’s about bouncing back from setbacks, adjusting to change, and keeping going when facing challenges.

Through this interactive and engaging keynote, you will learn to focus on the better parts of life and adapt to tough events. It gives you the tools to handle problems that may arise.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• Strengthens emotional intelligence among students by expanding self-awareness, empathy, and communication skills essential for campus life and leadership roles.
• Reduces stress and supports student wellbeing through practical tools for managing overwhelm, regulating emotions, and navigating academic or social pressure.
• Improves adaptability during transitions by helping students pivot with confidence through challenges such as homesickness, major changes, identity shifts, and life uncertainty.
• Enhances peer relationships and campus belonging by promoting empathy, healthy communication, and inclusive connection across diverse groups.
• Increases student engagement and success as resilient students participate more actively, problem-solve more effectively, and bounce back quickly from setbacks.
• Instills the 7 Cs of Resilience—competence, confidence, connection, character, contribution, coping, and control—creating students who are more grounded, responsible, and community-oriented.

What If You Chose Differently?

Have you ever looked back on a moment and wondered,
“What if I had chosen differently?”

This thought-provoking keynote by Suzan Nguyen invites you to explore life’s most pivotal choices—the ones you made, the ones you didn’t, and the ones you can still make today.

Blending raw vulnerability with powerful storytelling, Suzan takes audiences on a journey from regret to resilience, from stuck to self-empowered. Through reflective exercises, group declarations, and a message of radical forgiveness, you’ll walk away not just inspired—but equipped to choose better, not bitter.

It’s time to stop carrying the past and start choosing the future—with clarity, courage,
and compassion.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this program, students will learn:

• Release Regret: Learn how to shift from “What if…” to “What’s next?”
• Empower Your Choices: Understand the transformative power of daily
  decisions.
• Practice Self-Forgiveness: Let go of guilt and reclaim your emotional freedom.
• Embrace Vulnerability as Strength: Discover how being real opens doors to
  growth.
• Build Resilience: Move forward, even when life hurts, with grace and grit.
• Create a Shift Statement: Leave with a tangible tool to reframe pain into
  purpose.
• Live Your Motto: Choose to be better, not bitter—and inspire others to do the
  same.