Phoebe Thu Dinh

1. You have achieved so many amazing accolades and successes in your career. Tell us more about that, please?

I feel really lucky and blessed to have what I have now because everything starts inadvertently. While shopping with my Mum at a fashion store in 2013, I was spotted by a stylist. He signed me up for a model contest named “Viet Fashion Icon”. Every contestant was so professional but surprisingly with almost no experience, I won 1st-Runner Up place and the prize of “Best Face”. After winning the prize, I was scouted by a modeling agency and became a professional model. At the same time, I got invited to audition and become a TV news anchor at HTV. Besides that, I take part in managing my family’s business and in 2014, I won “Miss Press” as well as the 3rd – Runner up “Miss Business” beauty contest. In 2015, I started acting in high-rating tv-series and won 1st-Runner Up “Miss Movie Star Vietnam 2015”. This prize enabled me to be part of large fashion shows/fashion weeks nationally and internationally in the USA, Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, and Malaysia… where I met talented designers such as Hayden Ng – founder of AFDS. It’s my great honor to have opportunities to work with him and everyone in AFDS.

2. What does the daily life of a TV anchor in Vietnam look like?

So every day of my working life, it’s not the same as I host a variety of tv shows including news, fashion, health, and reality TV and each has its own team and timeline. It might seem anchors don’t have much to do but read from a prompter and look nice, but there is a lot more that goes into anchoring. I will need to work on heaps to get prepared. My typical day starts with updating all the news as soon as I get up every day to make sure I don’t miss out on any national and international current big events. If there is filming in studios, I will then make my way to HTV – Ho Chi Minh City Television, head straight to the make-up room where I have professional makeup artists do my makeup and hair, and also a stylist who prepares my outfits for the day. Once ready, I then meet with the news director, reporters, editors, producers, and any other on-air people to discuss stories of the day and build the scripts, making sure of the foreign name’s pronunciation. News stories can always be added, even in the middle of the broadcast and in live news shows and this can be quite a challenge. When this is done, I then head to the studio, put on a microphone and IFB, do my sound check, and will make sure I can hear my Director while also working with the cameramen to have the best angles. The camera is also a tool you need to master to be a news anchor. For each story, I would have to look at another camera and it is up to the Director’s control. On-air time we may go live or pre-recorded, I will present news stories as prepared with the team, sometimes interview guests and at the same time ensure late-breaking news

is added to newscasts. If the filming is outdoors all the above activities would be outdoors and will have a very early start in the morning. Every day I may host up to 6 tv shows.

3. Between your roles as a TV anchor, master of ceremony, model, and movie star, which is your favorite role and why?

I love all the jobs that I do. With each role, I find another inspiration and learn a lot about knowledge, beauty, healthcare, flexibility, activeness, calmness, and self-control. I gain each skill from another job. As long as I can, I will remain in all those roles because possibilities are endless when you work hard and never give up. I’m also an international KOL. This gives me a chance to travel, experience new things, and meet lots of interesting people. So every role that I can do well is my favorite but priority can shift depending on opportunities that come.

4. As a model for the Ao Dai Festival in Vietnam, can you tell us what this whole festival is about and a little more about the festival that took place just recently that you walked for on the runway?

It’s the Ao Dai Festival – an outstanding cultural and tourism event of Ho Chi Minh City in order to contribute to preserving and promoting the unique traditional cultural values of the national costume, nurturing the love of Ao Dai in Vietnam while attracting domestic and internal visitors to Ho Chi Minh City. It’s been held annually nine times since 2014 and it’s my pleasure to have walked in all nine. Each designer brings a different vibe to the Ao Dai design while maintaining the heritage, making each runway walk a memorable experience. This year especially I felt honored to be 1 of 100 representative artists to have a special performance celebrating the city. Recently I was involved with a photoshoot with designer Hayden NG for his new Capsule Collection and also with photographer Herbert Julian in Singapore. I admire them for their talents and personalities. Hayden makes every design with all his passion and pays close attention to every detail. Herbert has a very good artistic eye with a creative mind. Our makeup artist Cyndi also did a great job in making great looks for the shoot. We had an amazing photoshoot at a beautiful set full of art masterpieces. I think everyone who sees the photos and videos we made will fall in love with the designs and the heritage in them.

​5. Being constantly busy with everything that you do in your career path, what do you do in your free time or during holidays

I practice sports and I travel in my free time and during holidays. I love sports since it’s not only fun but super good for health and fitness. I’ve practiced swimming, belly-dancing, sports dancing, golf, and Muay Thai. Traveling is always my favorite thing to do because I love exploring the world, getting to know new things, and challenging my independence. I also try my best to have quality time with my family and friends, they mean a lot to me.

6. What are the future plans for all your roles?

Keep going and keep growing is my plan. The industry is developing and it changes every day hence I need to update my knowledge and renew my image. I will also spend more time developing my career outside of the country. Hopefully, I will have more interesting works and shows to share with you all.