T. Rocco

Thuy Rocco is the author of The Last Surviving Child: A Memoir, a collection of stories and poems about her refugee journey from the darkest moments of death, poverty, racism, discrimination,  abuse, and depression to a life of survival and hope. As a child refugee from Vietnam, she lost all of her siblings and her father.  Her mother braved seven journeys to escape their war-torn country. After several years in refugee camps, Thuy arrived in the U.S. in 1984 and grew up in poverty. After learning English as a young child, she became an interpreter for her family and their hope.

​

Her story was featured on Nashville Public Television Next Door Neighbors and Storyteller series.  The short film “Playground English” was nominated for the Midsouth Emmy Awards.

​

Thuy spent over a decade empowering and mentoring immigrants and refugees. She hopes that her story would inspire others to be brave enough to share their story and to provoke compassion and understanding everywhere.

​

She was the first to go to college and completed her degree, French Literature and International Studies from Emory & Henry College. She went on to complete her masters in English at the University of Memphis. She spent over 15 years teaching and training in many different areas: English as a Second Language, culture and diversity, technology, Tae Kwon Do and Kanban.

 

She and her husband now runs her own technology consulting company: zenodeconsulting.com. She and her husband also founded a nonprofit, tkdanywhere.com, to provide martial arts education to all socio-economic communities.  She loves to mentor, volunteer, travel, cook traditional Vietnamese food, write, and most of all, spend time with her family.