Misa Chien Brings Beauty and Brains to Entrepreneurship
By Juyun Kim | 04 Sep, 2025

Ladies & Legends Podcast featuring a world famous model who co-founded Nom Nom Truck, Autopilot and The Authentic Asian for Asian American female leaders.

Join us as we explore the lives of some of history and contemporary society's most prominent and magnetic women of Asian and Asian American descent.

In this episode we look at Misa Chien's journey from starting a successful eBay business in high school, to founding the famous Nom Nom Truck at the height of the food truck craze, to successfully pitching in Silicon Valley, to founding The Authentic Asian, a community for Asian American female leaders.  

Welcome to Ladies & Legends, the podcast where we explore the personal journey’s of iconic women of Asian and Asian American descent. I’m your host Juyun and today we’ll be talking to the incomparable Misa Chien. You may recognize her iconic beauty from her Neutrogena, L’Oreal, and Target campaigns, or her hardcore hustle from her time on “The Great Food Truck Race,” as one of the co-founders of the Nom Nom Truck, known for bringing delicious Vietnamese cuisine to communities across the greater LA area.

However you know her, former UCLA and Harvard Business School graduate Misa Chien has been a champion for Asian American representation, and entrepreneurship throughout her career. She’s also a noted speaker, bringing wisdom and authenticity to her TEDx and Harvard Business School talks.

And now, as the founder of The Authentic Asian, a community, a sisterhood really of high-achieving Asian American women, she has combined her skillset as a maven of social media and maverick of entrepreneurship with a desire to give back and foster both authentic female relationships, and growth.

It’s a pleasure to be here with you today Misa!

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me because I know you’re incredibly busy.

Misa Chien (01:12)

Love that.

Well, I think that in San Diego there's pockets of diversity. Unfortunately, where I was at, really wasn't that diverse, especially at my school. I still remember me and the two other Asian girls at my school out of hundreds of kids. We started something called the East Meets West Club. And at the time there was no word around woman of color or DEI or anything like that. So we start this club and

I still remember the first meeting. there's so few Asians at the school that I think there were maybe only two other Asians that joined, one of them being another family member and then maybe one other person. But people of color show up. And so what was interesting, was almost like it became like the DEI club before it was DEI the people of color club before, because there were so few spaces to

celebrate your heritage and there was so, so little diversity. I always felt like the black sheep. I always wished that I was one of the popular blonde girls. your pinnacle, ideal beauty were these blonde blue eyed girls, and I still remember all their names. It's like you like looked up to them and you want to be them. the only, only Asian I could think of at the time is the yellow Power Ranger. And she was just kind of in the background.

It's like we had so few role models. I still remember, you know, the American Girl doll line. They never came out with an Asian girl. Their first girl of the year wasn't until two years ago. It's like, where the heck are we guys?

Juyun Kim (02:48)

Have you heard of the Jilly Bing Doll?

Misa Chien (02:57)

I bought them technically for my daughter, and we brought her into the community for Fireside Track, I have this Chinese Barbie doll. I bought it for my daughter, but I feel like I bought it for myself. it's like, you it's just, you look back and you're like, whoa, all this shit happened.

And why was it like this? And I'm so glad that kind of our culture is not so monochrome now and it never will be again because of social media.

Juyun Kim (03:25)

So it kind of sounds like at a really early age, you had this awareness that you were not, well, obviously not blonde, but not white.

Misa Chien (03:35)

Yeah, that was super confusing because I have a white mom, but then with the way I look, I look more Asian. My doppelganger is Gemma Chan. so it was this unspoken thing where it was like, I needed to pretend to be white when I wasn't.

Juyun Kim (03:52)

Because it's gonna be audio and so people can't see you. There'll be a thumbnail, but like Misa is gorgeous, you guys, like gorgeous. I cannot imagine her ever wanting to look any different. I don't care who the blonde person is.

Misa Chien (03:57)

Well, it's interesting because in middle school I had glasses and braces so I felt very ugly on top of, not being one of the blonde haired blue guy girls and I was so shy and so quiet. I didn't know how to make friends. And so I don't know if anyone else listening went to this thing called cotillion, but it is the fucking most horrible thing ever. It was like, it was in this town where I live called La Jolla, it's just the most conservative, non-diverse place you could be. And my parents thought it'd be a great idea to send me to it, it's where you learn to dance, but technically it's just like boys and girls learn how to interact with each other, and the boys have to ask all the girls to dance. I was the only person of color there, I'm not freaking kidding you, the only person of color, and I was always the last one asked.

Boys who had to ask me, because I had glasses and braces, so you know, they started dancing and they're like, oh man, I got her. Man, it's like, I was like the leftovers that no one wanted.

Juyun Kim (05:09)

You're like a world famous model so did that change your self perception at all? Or do you feel like you still carry that like ugly ducking syndrome around now?

Misa Chien (05:14)

Yes. So ⁓I have done a lot of release work with different coaches around this. I was kind of shocked to find out I got into the top modeling agency while was in college. It was shocking because I thought I was still that girl with that glasses and braces and I'm like, whoa, people think I'm pretty. So I feel like, with that trauma, it did help me in a way and that it kept me humble. And also my mom was a model and I see that she, loved her beauty so much and almost worshiped it. So I always told myself, let me go ahead and enjoy my beauty, but let me build the whole other side of myself behind that.

Juyun Kim (05:56)

Yeah, that's amazing that you were able to, step back and look at This is how my mom operates. Let me take the best parts of that, because I am half her, but let me also alter it so that it's more effective, like for growth throughout life. So getting into parental influence. I've heard you mentioned that entrepreneurship kind of runs in your family.

Misa Chien (06:06)

Mm-hmm.

Juyun Kim (06:13)

Did you identify more with that from your father's side, your mother's side? How was the interplay between their personalities and how that impacted you?

Misa Chien (06:21)

Yeah, I have a quadruple dose of entrepreneurship. I'd be a horrible employee. So growing up, my dad did break the typical Chinese intergenerational trauma where he was just follow your passion. It's so important to follow your passion. he never got that encouragement. And so that's like the one value very ingrained in my mind, kind of follow your passion no matter what you do. He's an entrepreneur, so I naturally looked up to him and followed in those footsteps. That being said, when my first really big business failed, Nom Nom Truck became a seven-figure business, we became nationally well known When I had a falling out with my very toxic business partner I went to him and I was so scared to tell him I failed.

I still remember, and I'm writing about this in my memoir that's coming out next year, there's a whole part on it. And he told me, it's okay that you failed. It's like as if you went to get your MBA, or it's as if you went to college. so, having that forgiveness and that kind of acceptance to keep moving forward, I think is what kept me going

I founded a software company after that, and now I founded TAA. My mom is also an entrepreneur. She had her own small business. We're just not good at taking direction. I see my kids, I'm like, they're gonna be so effed if they try to go in the corporate world. it runs so, so strongly in our blood to be leaders and be entrepreneurs. And my husband's also an entrepreneur, so my kids are gonna have to do entrepreneurship.

Sometimes it just runs in your blood and it just makes sense and that's kind of my North Star.

Juyun Kim (07:58)

That is amazing. I think that in general, we're moving towards an economy and the society that begets entrepreneurship so, I've heard you speak about this I have two children and they are biracial. And so going back to the idea of living in two different worlds and having a broader perspective on life and identity. Do you have any recommendations that might save children from a little heartache as they grow up in a mostly Caucasian community?

Misa Chien (08:24)

I love that question. My mom is white, so it's unusual. My dad is the Asian one, My mom really cared about us knowing about our Chinese side, and even though my Chinese grandfather was kind of crazy, I loved him so much, and he always wanted a daughter, and so he raised us almost like we were his own daughters, and we really got to know the best sides of Chinese culture through him.

And it was helpful to have that identity because I think if I didn't have that identity growing up, I would be very confused. why do I look Chinese, but I'm half white people go up to my mom and say, is she adopted? Are you upset she doesn't look like you? It's really hard having that intersectional identity.

So just having full acceptance and unconditional love and compassion for my mom and her saying, I love you no matter what, you don't have to look like me. Just having that full love is so important.

Juyun Kim (09:22)

And it feels like all of your projects have been rooted in so much deep love, even your entrepreneurial projects. It's like you put your all behind something and that is your heart, not just your brain.

Misa Chien (09:32)

It's interesting because I tell my daughter and she really fully embraces this that our family shape is a heart. if you look over here on my wall over here, I have a wall of hearts downstairs. I have a wall of hearts. It was my the shape of my Chinese grandmother who I feel I'm the most like out of all the personalities in my family.

At the end of the day, they just need love. They need love and attention. And if you can give that, then you're good. And it's easy to just be like, I need to put them in this program or that program, or they need to be trilingual. And I feel like the A-typeness of us, and I might be a hypocrite saying this because I still am very A-type, but.

Juyun Kim (10:09)

Harvard Business School, UCLA. ⁓

Misa Chien (10:12)

I know I'm very A-type, but it's like important to remember that beyond that, beyond wanting to make sure they succeed in life, they need love and attention. And I think that that's what our generation of Asian women is seeking. We're seeking mental health. We're opening up, being authentic, seeing some of the great things about Asian culture, some of the not so great things that we don't want to pass on to our children and giving them that unconditional love that they need.

Juyun Kim (10:38)

So yeah, so I'm going to go a little out of order here and go straight to The Authentic Asian. When you came up with the concept for that, what was it built out of? Because you had experience raising money in Silicon Valley. You had experience owning multiple different businesses, starting with your eBay business in high school.

Misa Chien (11:00)

You research, girlfriend!

Juyun Kim (11:02)

I'm Asian after all, and you had a successful modeling career. So at all of these points, you could have really just stayed in that lane. So what inspired you to create The Authentic Asian?

Misa Chien (11:15)

So The Authentic Asian is an overnight success two decades in the making. You know, of course, growing up in a non-diverse environment that affects you and being the one in the room like from the day you're born basically, that always will affect you. But going out into the business world was a totally different ball game.

So I still remember I built a six figure jewelry business out of my dorm room, got an Entrepreneurship Magazine, entered this pitch competition through EO called GSEA. And I arrived at the pitch competition. I am literally the only person of color and the only woman out of 20 contestants. And that's just the reality of when you break the ceiling. I had already kind of broken the ceiling in a way because I was pitching to investors and these are the top 20 students out of the country who have built six figure businesses within only a year of college. And I still remember feeling like an imposter, feeling like, do I actually belong here? And then men also confirming that, right? So I get on a bus and we're going on a field trip somewhere and I sit next to one of the guys, he gets up and just doesn't wanna sit next to me.

Juyun Kim (12:23)

Do you think it's because you're a woman primarily or because you're not white?

Misa Chien (12:30)

I learned about this in women of color and leadership. This is a constant journey, right? And we often as Asian women, like we're often told we're not people of color too, And so we are women of color let me confirm that. And we can't be perceived as ambitious and competent and kind. So I have a very kind, charismatic, both brand presence and face. And so men often don't take me seriously.

Even women, another Asian woman who's actually blacklisted from the community now, she went to a supper club recently and told me to my face, she's not a member, it's just like someone who came in as a non-member, she told me, when you first reached out to me in the community, I didn't think you'd be good at building business because of the way that you look. And so it's like this perpetual stereotype is done by everyone, our own kind are doing it.

Juyun Kim (13:20)

And like you said, of success, two decades in the making, right? But an instant success as people perceive it. I wanna take a moment to go back to your undergraduate experience because you had some early success as well that helped propel forward your entrepreneurial spirit,

Misa Chien (13:43)

Yeah, so from that jewelry business, I ended up closing it because when the economy crashed in 2008, jewelry was not doing well. And so I was looking for my next thing. I was signed with LA models, a couple other modeling agencies, making a good salary, six figures, but barely working. Like you do like one campaign a month. I was so bored. I really knew I wanted to build an entrepreneur, something in entrepreneurship. So two of my hoppa friends started something called Nom Nom Trek.

It's a Vietnamese food truck and it was an instant success. Forbes, Inc. Magazine, lines out the door. I had no idea that it would be such a big success. And then we got on the Great Food Truck Race, 60 million viewers. And so it was this huge success, but what was interesting is that beneath it all, I did feel like it was failing. despite making 1.5 million at our peak and then annually, we barely scraped by with a net profit.

And so it's kind of like this entrepreneurship journey of just feeling lonely, feeling like a failure. And once it actually failed, that was really hard And so I kept trying to find myself what I was good at. I ended up building a software company, raising money in Silicon Valley out of that, ⁓ all around my love for people and helping others. It was a customer service survey company.

And in the process of raising money in Silicon Valley though, things kept happening to me. And there's so few other Asian women in leadership roles and in successful in entrepreneurship, had no one to compare it to. So things would happen to me that wouldn't happen to my white female counterparts. Like being sexually harassed multiple times, an investor having me pitched to his prostitute.

⁓ being asked by another investor.

Juyun Kim (15:33)

Wait, wait, hold on you have to elaborate. You can't just like leave that hanging. what?

Misa Chien (15:37)

This will be in my book, it's just, gosh, I can't even tell you how many times I've been sexually harassed, but it's this combination, again, if you're a pretty Asian girl, it's the combination of being both a woman of color and Asian submissive and refetishized

It's this dangerous combination if you don't watch your back in business and so forth, you have to be careful. And so with this investor, I was closing the deal with him and he just said, ⁓ I'm gonna have my little friend to come down. And it ended up being a prostitute and he had me sit right next to her and pitch to her.

It was insane. I was like, is this a movie, dude? Things just keep happening in me in life where I'm like, am I fricking imagining? Did someone just actually do that or say that? And I think that happens to Asian women a lot.

Juyun Kim (16:24)

You guys gotta go check her memoir. It sounds very juicy.

Misa Chien (16:30)

Yeah, it's gonna come out next year, so like things just keep happening to me and I'm like, what the heck? And then I bring it up and then other white women would make it seem like that didn't happen to me. And so I just didn't even feel comfortable bringing it up.

Juyun Kim (16:44)

Devil's advocate here and say you're very smart, but you're also very beautiful. Obviously, you were signed by LA Models, which one of the top modeling agencies in the country. I think it would be hard, right, to separate how much of that is because of your intersectional identity, as Asian American woman, but also how much of it is just because you have good looks.

Misa Chien (17:02)

Yeah, it's like this bad combination. Yeah, I don't want to say bad combination, but if I were white, I don't think this would be happening to me. I want to put that out there, because I have pretty white friends and this does not happen to them.

⁓ And so I do think that there is that combination there. But so yeah, there's that investor, but then other things would happen like just very racist comments. Are you going to pitch as the cute Asian or the tiger Asian? You know, like things got into my mind and piled up to the point where I felt like I need to put on this persona of like this tiger Asian woman to be able to successfully raise money in Silicon Valley.

Juyun Kim (17:40)

And also as potentially a protective mechanism against those kinds of harassment. ⁓

Misa Chien (17:46)

Actually, yeah, I never even thought of that. You're totally right. I felt like I had to build a thicker skin. And as a result, I did lose my authenticity. And so as I kept growing as a leader, as an entrepreneur, I was trying to seek something because I was like, I don't feel like I know what's going on. Why do these things happen to me? Not just the sexual harassment, but also just these racist, sexist comments that aren't happening to my white counterparts.

And so then I ended up attending the Harvard Business School's Women of Color and Leadership, and that's where I found all my answers. I remember that the professor said, Asian women cannot be perceived as both competent and kind. It's almost impossible out of any other woman of color.

it's kind of this aha moment, like why the heck don't we have our own house? Why the heck is there no community supporting us? And helping us carry this baggage together and that's when I started The Authentic Asian and apparently 200 other Asian female leaders felt the same way.

Juyun Kim (18:44)

Yeah, it's amazing. I'm a member, disclaimer. So I've been able to see firsthand how amazing the community is. A couple of things, what Misa has imbued it with besides her own warmth and authenticity is like tangible events, programs you can attend, fireside chats. I really don't know how you source all the talent for all of these, but a quick question about culture. So I know that you mentioned earlier in this interview that there was somebody who had been like blacklisted from the community. How important is culture to your conception of what The Authentic Asian was going to be and continues to be? Because I know you vet every new member personally.

Misa Chien (19:28)

Yes, you know, culture keeps me up at night. So we have a very strict ⁓ onboarding and I usually know in the first five minutes if someone's a good fit or not.

There's this part of the interview, if someone seems like they might not be a good fit or I'm on the fence about them, then I actually like go and show my story, at the end of my story there's a picture of my kids dancing to a jukebox and laughing and singing and they're so cute. If that person doesn't freaking laugh from that video or smile, I'm like, you're out, I'm sorry.

So if someone talks more than 70 % of the time, then also they're not in as well. Cause that means that they won't be able to like cohesively listen to others. Cause it's supposed to be like a symbiotic relationship, not just like a therapist relationship.

Juyun Kim (20:12)

You know what, I've heard you speak, you're very, very competent, engaging, charismatic speaker, but I feel that you have a very like sensitive heart. And so that brings me back to, your career trajectory, because like you said, when Nom Nom Truck,

You co-founded that business with were they friends? Like, what was the relationship with your other co-founders? And if they were friends, why or why not would you recommend that for young entrepreneurs?

Misa Chien (20:38)

Oh gosh, it's so hard. I think that it's like a marriage and you have to accept that it has a 50 % chance of failing and that's why I haven't taken on a business partner for The Authentic Asian yet. Yeah, mean, it's just, it's tough. It's actually even tougher than a marriage in some ways, I would say.

And I think that it's important that you're friends with the other person because you might spend even more time with them than your significant other and you're gonna need to walk through fire together. I think the issue is that I loved my business partner so much. I overlooked her toxicity. I overlooked the trauma she had. I overlooked just how horrible she was in terms of a fit for me personally. Maybe with other people she's a better fit but.

We were a toxic combination. And so sometimes when you love someone so much, you overlook their flaws. I'm an ENFJ, and I'd rather give than get, even if it's at the detriment of myself. watch out for. So I think it's important to understand your strengths and your weaknesses and bring on someone who can balance out those strengths and weaknesses. And even being a solo founder now, I have a bunch of different coaches, but I've brought them around me based on my weaknesses. And I've taken an Ikigai guide test which shows you like your strengths and weaknesses and I brought on coaches that fill out those weaknesses.

Juyun Kim (21:58)

So you have an incredible amount of self-awareness, have you always been like that?

Misa Chien (22:04)

No, so in your 20s, anyone who's younger listening to this, you will make a ton of mistakes. I didn't forgive myself for a very long time I was a horrible boss in my 20s. I had a team of 20. I was managing in the truck, and I had no idea what the hell I was doing. And it wasn't until I went to Harvard Business School, and I really learned my leadership style, and I learned, I'm not such a bad boss. I can develop myself.

And it's hard because with my toxic business partner, she would just tell me all the ways I was horrible. And so I thought I was this horrible person. And after being with someone for four years with someone telling you all the things you do wrong and never giving positive reinforcement, that's really toxic.

When I built the software company, there were some employees that were with me for five years. It's just that this one person made me feel like a horrible person. So you're gonna make mistakes and you just need to be open to change. That's the most important thing.

Juyun Kim (22:58)

Whenever I study the careers of any successful Asian American women, because that's what we do here, it does seem to follow in that trajectory where it is about mitigating the effects of your weaknesses while leaning into your strengths, And so you don't get deterred by the failures.

I want to end on a more fun little personal note. So if we can take away anything from your kind of career trajectory and what you've learned, you have a family. How has that contributed to the dimensionality of your life as a whole and your sense of fulfillment as a human being, living in this experience?

Misa Chien (23:37)

Motherhood changed me a lot, in a good way. I feel very blessed because I love my husband very, very much and he's an unbelievable dad. He's kind of the dream dad to my kids So I do want to credit him. He's one of the reasons I can have the career and he's been so supportive. When my daughter was seven months old, I was like, I want to go to Harvard and earn my alumni status, he's like, sure.

Juyun Kim (23:59)

For the women dating the super ambitious Type A entrepreneurial dating how did you meet your husband?

Misa Chien (24:02)

This is a crazy story. You ready here, ladies?

You know, I was going between LA and SF and I still remember a friend told me, said, I need to set you up with my friend who's like the super eligible bachelor in Silicon Valley. And so I had tried dating all these men that had these amazing, unbelievable resumes, right?

But what ended up happening, even though they're insanely wealthy, insanely successful, I feel that never any of them really gave me the joy and just attention that's needed in a relationship. So I kept breaking things off with people.

Juyun Kim (24:38)

Did you ever doubt yourself in these processes of breaking things off with well-credentialed men? Because I think this is something that some of us can relate to.

Misa Chien (24:45)

No I mean, I feel like it's important to know your self-worth as a woman and after three months is very clear. They should just be engaging, and I don't care how rich you are. I don't care if you're a freaking billionaire If you can't get on a call with me and just catch up. You're out of here, man.

Juyun Kim (24:54)

That's the self-worth part, ladies.

Misa Chien (25:04)

I have my main identity and like I was, working 100 hour a week on the truck. So I had that to always keep my North star. So then what ended up happening is I joined OKCupid. I heard that there's three men to every woman in San Francisco. I'll find my guy in San Francisco, LA dating's horrible.

Misa Chien (25:20)

And so⁓ I just was like in the process of moving to the Bay Area and I knew that I wanted to end up with an engineer, but an engineer who was really fun to dance with.

Juyun Kim (25:30)

I have to interrupt you, Misa. An engineer?

Misa Chien (25:34)

I had dated engineers before and I felt like I knew all the engineers are up in San Francisco three men every woman there has to be someone online who I could meet. So I had created set up my dating profile on OKCupid, but I used my legal name, which is Marissa. And I said I worked with animals because at the time, Nom Nom Truck was pretty well known. I had tons of stalkers.

And so then I put a couple of photos on and it was pretty crazy because I was getting 50 to 100 messages a day But I knew how to hire employees for the food truck. And when we would post a Craigslist ad for a food truck line cook, it would be like they have to respond, they have to show that they've read the company, they have to show that in their cover letter, it's not just a generic cover letter, they're excited about our brand. So I applied the same thing to myself. It's like, did they read my profile? Did they see that like Lord of the Rings? They're not just sending out one gigantic message to all the women in San Francisco. Out of the thousands of messages I had to go through over the whole month. It was like there were only a couple men that actually look at your, because you know they're doing a giant sweep. It's so sketchy. And one of those men was luckily my husband. I thought that I just loved dating in San Francisco at first, but what I soon realized was that it was that I really enjoyed the conversation with him. He loves salsa dancing too,

Juyun Kim (27:01)

What I've heard about the Bay Area is that the odds are good, but the goods are odd. Have you heard that before?

Misa Chien (27:07)

They are, they are. It’s funny that you say that, because my husband's an engineer and he's like, I'm one of the not crazy weird engineers.

Juyun Kim (27:15)

It sounds like a nightmare right now, to be honest, the dating scene.

Misa Chien (27:18)

I also kept trying to date non-entrepreneurs and I couldn't. There's something about the shared experience of being an entrepreneur, building something, the failure, the grit, the struggles like, I could only date entrepreneurs, unfortunately, it was just the way it was. But I knew what was interesting and this happens for a lot of the women in our community, all the A types, there was like super duper chill men that kind of like help calm them down. And that's how my husband is. He's like into meditation. His spirit animal, he always says is a sloth, mine is a hummingbird.

And he's Latino too, so I've had to embrace more of the Latino slower culture. We go to Chile twice a year, that slows me down.

Juyun Kim (28:05)

It's about balance and as type A, high achieving Asian American women we look for the credentials oftentimes, but it sounds like you are very pragmatic and you look for the things that mean something in terms of longevity, even from the beginning applied the same sort of rigor to your dating life that you apply to your professional life. So that is amazing.

So I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Misa Chen leaning into some of her entrepreneurial ventures as well as her personal life. I personally really like delving into the things that tie us all together, aspects around family, life in general, personality, background, and all that fun stuff. But let us know if there's anyone you'd like us to cover in particular, and thank you guys so much for spending this time with us.