I have always believed that the most profound transformations happen when someone chooses purpose over prestige. But rarely have I witnessed a story that illustrates this truth as powerfully as that of Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc. Here is a woman who climbed the corporate ladder at one of Vietnam’s largest banks for thirteen years, rising from credit officer to Deputy CEO. She had everything most professionals spend their entire careers chasing: status, security, and success. And then she walked away from it all to teach children how to learn.

What makes someone abandon a trajectory that most would consider the pinnacle of achievement? What kind of clarity does it take to see that your true calling lies not in boardrooms but in classrooms? The answers reveal a transformation story that every entrepreneur and leader needs to hear.

The Corporate Climb

For thirteen years, Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc dedicated herself to Sacombank. She started as a credit officer, learning the fundamentals of banking from the ground up. Through talent, determination, and relentless effort, she climbed through every level of the organization. She became Deputy Manager, then Manager, then Deputy Director, then Branch Director. Finally, she reached the position of Deputy CEO overseeing business operations.

It was a career she once believed would last until retirement. The work consumed her with its intensity and passion. The challenges energized her. The achievements validated her. She had little mental space to imagine any alternative path because the one she was on seemed so clearly destined for continued success.

But beneath the external accomplishments, something was shifting. The higher she climbed, the more she began questioning the deeper meaning of her work and who she was becoming in the process.

The Moment of Reckoning

The year 2007 brought a turning point that Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc could not ignore. The real estate market was booming, credit growth was running hot, and the pressure in banking became heavier than ever before. In the midst of this chaos, she found herself asking questions that had no easy answers. What value was she truly creating? Who was she becoming through this relentless pursuit?

And then, unexpectedly, a memory surfaced. She remembered herself as a child: shy, insecure, afraid to speak up even when she knew the answer. That image of her younger self came rushing back with surprising force. In that moment of reflection, surrounded by the pressures of high finance, she made a decision that would change everything.

She decided to stop.

The First Leap into Education

In 2009, Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc launched her first educational venture: a comprehensive school covering primary through high school in District 7 of Ho Chi Minh City. She started with just 142 students. Over the next decade, that number grew to 2,200 students. By any measure, the school was a success.

But even as the student population multiplied, she was learning something that would redirect her path once again. She began to understand that the most critical period in a child’s development was not high school or even primary school. It was the years from birth to age six. Those quiet, seemingly simple years were actually laying the foundation for everything that would follow.

In 2017, she made another bold decision. She stepped away from the K-12 school to focus entirely on early childhood education using the Montessori method. She had found her true calling.

Building a New Kind of Education

Today, Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc serves as Founder and CEO of Chan Thanh Services Corporation. Her core mission is early education for children aged zero to six using Montessori principles, combined with creative thinking education franchised from Finland. She has built and operated three Montessori facilities, two in Ho Chi Minh City and one franchise in Hanoi.

Her daily work revolves around strategic direction, communications, and training teachers to step back, observe, and respect each child’s natural rhythm of development. She also supports busy parents in understanding that early education does not happen only at school. It begins in the home.

The parents she serves are intellectuals with heavy responsibilities: office workers, mid-to-senior managers, business owners, and freelancers. They are people with high pressure and limited time who refuse to sacrifice their children’s early years despite their demanding schedules. They have abundant love but often lack the calmness, the time, and a clear methodology to raise children in the modern world.

A Story That Changes Everything

Two years ago, a family brought their four-and-a-half-year-old twins to one of her Clover schools. Neither child could speak a single word. Both were terrified of going outside. Whenever they encountered crowds, they would silently hide in corners, avoiding eye contact and sound. The family was well-off and had taken the children to many specialists and tried numerous methods without success.

Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc and her team made no promises of fluent speech. They set no rushed milestones. The only thing they did, every single day, was respect the children. They assigned dedicated teachers for six months of patient observation, persistent companionship, and acceptance of each child’s very slow rhythm. No pushing. No forcing. Just quietly waiting for understanding to emerge through love.

After six months, one child spoke two words. The other spoke a short sentence of about five words. But what made the mother cry was not just the first words. It was seeing both children become more confident outside, happier among crowds. She sent photos of her children smiling.

For the team, early education is not about racing toward results. It is about having enough patience to avoid damaging childhood.

What Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc Teaches Us

Reflecting on this remarkable journey, several lessons stand out for entrepreneurs and leaders.

First, the skills developed in one career often prepare us for another in unexpected ways. Her thirteen years in banking taught her strategic thinking, operational management, and how to build and lead teams. These capabilities transferred directly to building educational institutions, even though the industries seem completely different.

Second, listening to inner disquiet can lead to profound transformation. Many people feel the questions she felt in 2007 but suppress them because the external rewards seem too valuable to risk. She chose to honor those questions, and that courage opened a path she never could have planned.

Third, going deeper often matters more than going wider. Instead of expanding her K-12 empire, she narrowed her focus to the earliest years of childhood because she understood that was where the greatest impact could be made. Sometimes the most ambitious choice is to specialize rather than scale.

The Foundation of Family

Throughout her journey, family has been the greatest anchor. During the most difficult periods, especially when the pandemic threatened to force her business to close, her family provided the calm she needed to avoid rash decisions. Their quiet presence, free of pressure or judgment, gave her strength to continue even when everything felt fragile.

The values she pursues in life were formed and nurtured within her family: integrity in thought and action, honesty with herself and others, connection in relationships, willingness to share, and a foundation built on love. For her, family is not just a place to return to but a compass guiding every choice in work and life.

A Vision for the Future

Looking ahead, Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc dreams of building an ecosystem that helps parents apply Montessori principles in their own homes. She believes early education should not be a privilege reserved for the wealthy few but should be accessible in a thoughtful, practical way suited to modern family life.

She has no interest in opening many schools or chasing scale at any cost. Her priority is spreading the true spirit of Montessori: respecting children, preparing appropriate environments, and beginning with change in the adults. When parents understand correctly, act correctly, and maintain patience, children will develop in their own unique way without being pushed or compared.

Through her social media channels, she has built a community of more than 360,000 followers. These are parents learning to slow down, understand their children better, and change themselves to create positive family environments.

The Measure of True Purpose

When I consider the story of Nguyễn Huỳnh Thu Trúc, I see someone who discovered that success measured by titles and income can feel hollow compared to success measured by impact on young lives. She traded the corner office for the classroom and found more meaning in watching a child speak their first words than in any quarterly earnings report.

For entrepreneurs reading this, her journey poses an important question. Are you building something that aligns with your deepest values, or are you climbing a ladder that leads somewhere you do not actually want to go?

She arrived at her answer through crisis and reflection. She chose a path that was slower, quieter, and infinitely more meaningful. Today, she stands as proof that the most important work often happens in the earliest, most overlooked years of human life.

If you are feeling the same questions she felt in 2007, perhaps her story is permission to listen. The shy child inside you might be pointing toward your true purpose all along.

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Le Duc Anh CEO of OceanLabs – Founder of QVID