Dinh Thi Ly (centre) successfully started her own business many years ago, and won an Australia Awards scholarship to study entrepreneurship and innovation in Australia.
Owner of a technology startup, Dinh Thi Ly (31 years old) is determined to reach further in the future with a master’s degree in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management at La Trobe University (Melbourne, Australia).
Seven years ago, Dinh Thi Ly started a technology service called “SEO Queen” and recruited people with disability for website-related projects. On average, Ly signs a couple of new service contracts each month, and creates jobs for 3-4 people with disability in articles writing, photo editing and online advertising.
“Success begins with a dream”, first write down your dream and plan to make it come true step by step – Ly shared.
Born with a height defect, Dinh Thi Ly was unwell as child. Ly’s disability kept her from helping her family with housework, and as the youngest child of a rural family with four sisters, she decided to focus on her studies. From elementary through to high school levels, Ly always had her parents send her to school. When sitting on school chairs, she had to ask the teacher to make the chair higher so that she could see the board. The older she got, the more difficult it became for Ly to move. “I often wondered what I should study to suit my health condition. Then I chose information technology for university application,” Ly shared.
And because of her height defect, Ly decided to make herself higher and become a better “version” of herself. She wanted her parents not worry about her, and to have an independent life of her own.
“People with disability are only inconvenient, not unhappy. If you change yourself and change the views of those around you, you can integrate well into the community,” Ly shared her optimism.
After Ly passed her university entrance exams, her mother quit her 15-year job as a trader in her hometown to accompany her daughter during four years of college. Her father took over all of her mother’s work to support their children’s schooling. Ly was also supported by her sisters who created favourable conditions for her to realise her college dream. “At that time, I only thought that I should strive more, at least be able to take care of myself after graduation, because of my parents and sisters. I did not expect what I would have achieved later was a real-life dream,” Ly shared.
With her strong will and enthusiasm, the 93cm tall Dinh Thi Ly graduated from university and founded an online business service on her own. Not only creating a job for herself to earn a stable income and live independently, Ly also generated online employment opportunities for many people with disability.
To inspire people with disability, Ly participated in an online search engine optimization (SEO) training program for more than 100 people with disability, through which she connected with partners to join her project. Wanting to acquire more knowledge and ability to support more people with disability, Ly decided to look for a scholarship to study in Australia. “I learned about the Australia Awards program from an apprentice professor Dinh Ngoc Thanh, leader of the Internet of Things research team – Soongsil University, and from some Australian alumni with disability who had completed their studies and returned from Australia. I had never thought of studying abroad before, because of my health conditions, until I met with and got inspired by those alumni,” Dinh Thi Ly said.
The biggest challenge for Ly in winning the Scholarship was her English skills. She spent a year at RMIT University in Vietnam to improve her English proficiency before going to Australia.
Now Ly has started her new journey at La Trobe University, to fulfill her dreams and desires. The Australia Awards program offers ideal learning conditions for students with disability. In addition to benefits that all students are entitled to, Ly’s relative is also sponsored by the program to accompany her as a caretaker throughout her stay in Australia. The program also invites experts to assess student needs and provides suitable transportation for students with disability.
Let’s join us to wish Ly all the best on her new journey to fulfill her ambition of inspiring and helping more young people with disability to live an independent, equal and meaningful life.
The Australia Awards program also sponsors a care taker of Ly during her study in Australia.
