A2H #10 | Sexually Abused Since 5 to NASA Engineer at 18 with Eliszabeth Van

Art 2 Heart

Today’s guest is a freaking rockstar. Eliszabeth Van was born in Vietnam and moved to America at the age of 3, where she would grow up to survive an abusive childhood, be unhoused twice, and witness her father be incarcerated. During middle school, she walked in the Texas summer heat going door-to-door with her mom, filling out job applications because her mom did not know English. Fast forward to high school, she joined a robotics club, found her passion, and got a community in return.
After going back to Vietnam to visit her hometown, she was inspired to sponsor and organize a STEM workshop for youth, completing cold calls and securing sponsors to make her dream a reality, all as a high school student. But she was just getting started.

The summer after graduating high school, Eliszabeth interned for NASA and worked on a rover that has been to the moon. As a Freshman in college, she applied for a job at Boston Dynamics, the world’s leading pioneer in robotics technology. Oh, and the job listing was for graduating college seniors, AND SHE GOT IT.

And through this entire journey, she’s found love, forgiveness, grace, and an unwavering ambition to use her gifts for the good of mankind, and I don’t say that lightly, as you’ll see in the episode. At the time of this recording in Septemer 2022, she was only 19 and is a self proclaimed “time billionaire.”

I met Eliszabeth in 2021 in the online mentor sessions hosted by Alex Banayan, the author of an incredible book called The Third Door. During these zoom calls one day, I saw a chat about someone needing help with their college admission essays. I had just discovered my passion for writing, so I offered my help and got to know Eliszabeth and her unbelievable story over the next several months as I helped her with her essays. In this episode, we learn about her journey, and touch on other subjects like:

• Why making space exploration should remain a priority when there is so much help still needed on Earth
• Why young people should focus on becoming great at one thing instead of doing 20 things at once to look good on college admission essays
• and how engineering is a form of art

Support Liz and Kat on their start-up!

Liz and Kat are also currently working on their new start-up for robotics and AI technologies. Their mission is to lead the innovation of the next age of technological revolution in household maintenance (chores and such). They could use your help with their survey:
https://forms.gle/cEPyUaGkYkjsy9Qf7
Follow Eliszabeth

Instagram : @eliszabethvan

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Instagram: @art2heart.podcast

Website: art2heart.life

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Artwork by Holly Pelletier Clark