In this episode of Landings, host Camille Zyniewicz sits down with Trami [ge-MEE] Nguyen [WIN], a UX designer from Goshen, Indiana and 2024 graduate of Purdue University, to talk about growing up in a small Midwest city, navigating cultural identity, and launching a UX design career outside a big-city tech hub.

Trami reflects on how her Vietnamese-American upbringing shaped her values and ambition, her pivot from pre-med to UX design, and what it’s been like working at Viewrail—a Northern Indiana manufacturer actively building its UX practice.

Together, Camille and Trami discuss the realities of starting a design career in a small city, the excitement of shaping the future of UX at Viewrail, and their shared appreciation for the close-knit communities of the region they call home.

Key Topics Discussed:

• Growing up in Goshen and navigating Vietnamese-American identity
• Discovering UX design through Pinterest, school binder covers, and Reddit
• Why Trami chose Purdue’s UX Design program—and what made it special
• Her path to landing an internship and full-time role at Viewrail
• The challenges and opportunities of working at a company with low UX maturity
• The need for more UX community in smaller cities—and what that could look like
• Dreams of big-city living vs. the deep connections formed in small-city life
• The empathy and insight gained from growing up beyond tech-saturated spaces

Quote of the Episode:

“I never expected that I’d join a company that didn’t already have UX established… but it’s actually been such a cool learning experience to help build those processes from scratch.”

Brought to you by:
Season One of Landings is sponsored by the University of Notre Dame’s Industry Labs—partnering with regional companies to realize a shared competitive advantage.

Production assistance by Wayfare Recording

Episode Links:

• Learn more about Viewrail
• Industry Labs at Notre Dame: industrylabs.nd.edu
• Learn more about Landings