Tien Mullen grew up in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in Saigon – Vietnam. So dangerous that it got a reputation “you can come in but good luck with getting out without losing an arm or a leg”. Not many people would dare to come in, especially at night fall. Every day, Tien would see a wife being beaten up by her husband. Someone would chase another with a knife as a way to resolve conflicts. About the width of a car away, the house across the alley from Tien’s house was a brothel. Many characters frequently visited the place. Girls as young as thirteen years old would get into the business to support their families. Tien’s mother worked many jobs to raise four young kids and supported Tien’s father who was held in one of the re-educational camps, post-Vietnam War. Money was tight, and food was limited. Growing up in that environment, Tien found joy in spending hours looking up at the sky. She was amazed at the endless possibilities that the sky of could entertain her throughout the day. There was always something for her to ponder, to imagine, to dream. In the daytime, she could see the sun, clouds, birds, rain, airplanes, sometimes even the moon and the stars... At night, she could see the stars, the bright moon, especially during those nights when electricity was shut off for conservation.
Tien did not know when she started loving the sky and airplanes. She just remembered that every six months, her mother would travel by ground transportations from Saigon to a Northern rural area [close to Southern China border] to visit and provide dry foods and necessities to her father. The actual visit time was only thirty minutes, but each trip would take her mother a couple of weeks due to transportation changes. During that time, Tien and her siblings would be in the care of relatives and neighbors. As she missed her mother those nights while her mother was away, Tien wished that her mother could fly, so that she could see her husband and quickly head home for the kids. After thirteen years growing up without a father, Tien and her siblings were allowed to come and visit her father for the first time as he was moved to another camp in the South, closer to home. That eighty-mile-trip was a long one way six hours trip. The mother and her four kids had to change between cycle rickshaw (Xích lô) to “xe lam” to a “hayride” truck. The trip further validated Tien’s wish to fly on an airplane.
Tien’s wish of on boarding an airplane came true when the family left Vietnam to come to America under the status of “political refugees” in 1993.
That first flight experience on a Boeing 747 airplane taught Tien a few things:
It is a great experience to see what it is like from above: above the ground, in the clouds, above the clouds, and the complete stillness in the darkness where you are an object hanging in the middle of space with no string attached. You are a part of a magic show!
Motion sickness is no joke. Flying is not glamorous. It takes guts!
Indeed! Airplanes can get you to your destination a lot quicker than ground and water transportations.
Motion sickness didn’t stop Tien from experiencing that magical time in the air. Since that first flight, Tien has traveled by air to many places around the world and is now working for The Boeing Company - one of the largest aerospace companies in the world, where she is an Engineering manager supporting commercial airplane production, certification, and delivery. Her career path has not been an easy one, but it led her to the company that made her dream of flying come true.
Tien’s never thought of becoming a pilot herself; however, she devotes her free time to mentor and support future engineers and scientists who have passion for aviation and space. Tien knows that somewhere on the ground, on this earth, there is a girl, a boy, at any moment in time, is looking up at the sky, wishing to fly on an airplane to a better world. With that thought, Tien commits to support organizations, such as the Asian Women in Aerospace & Aviation (AWA2) and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE), as well as teaching STEM after school for elementary and middle school students. Tien hopes that she can help these students realize their love and dream for a career in space and aviation a lot faster and in an efficient way.