Quynh Nguyen

2026
Written By Olga Kolgusheva

Quynh Nguyen

Quynh Nguyen, a Vietnamese freelance journalist known by her pen name Mother Mushroom, reports on human rights and civic space in Vietnam. She launched the Mother Mushroom Blog in 2006, covering social justice, environmental accountability and abuses of power, and later edited for the pro-democracy site Danlambao and helped found the Vietnam Bloggers Network.  

That work made her a target of the Vietnamese government. She was arrested in 2016 and sentenced in 2017, the same year the U.S. State Department honored her with the International Women of Courage Award. Released in October 2018, she left Vietnam for the United States and continues her work in exile.  

Her YouTube channel publishes explainers on censorship, civil society and religious freedom, and she founded WEHEAR (Women Empower, Human Rights, Exile, Advocacy & Reports) in Texas, a platform for reports and op-eds on Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Her pen name comes from her daughter's nickname, "Mushroom."

The Alfred Friendly fellowship gave her a community, Nguyen said, and taught her that leaving her homeland was not the same as leaving the work behind.

Olga Kolgusheva

Olga is a Squarespace designer and copywriter known for creating clean, editorial websites with refined typography, irregular grids, and minimalist, monochromatic aesthetics. A former business and radio journalist trained at the Missouri School of Journalism, she discovered her visual talent in an infographics class and has spent over a decade designing digital experiences that merge strategic content, marketing insight, and visual clarity. A true digital native, Olga specializes in building Squarespace websites that tell compelling stories through structure, design, and words.

https://applet.studio
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