Jennifer “Nuky” Phạm, 37, helps run the Celebrate Argyle campaign and books musicians and artists at pop-up events for Haibayô, whose cross-cultural creative collaborations aim to energize the Asia on Argyle district. Phạm is a Chicago-born Vietnamese American and co-owns her family’s business, Mini Thương Xá Pharmacy. She also serves on the board of directors for the Uptown Chamber of Commerce and on the associate board for the Chinese Mutual Aid Association.

From that, I worked together with different organizations to have pop-up events. Then a really good friend of mine, Hạc Trần, and I decided to create this organization called Haibayô. The name comes from a Vietnamese phrase, “One, two, three, cheers.” In Vietnamese, when you do the cheers with someone, it’s “Một, hai, ba, vô [pronounced ‘yo’]!”

It was shoulder-to-shoulder packed when we did that second event. We needed to get a larger space. I was meditating one day, and just had this thought: “I wonder what’s on top of that one building?” Hạc went to go check it out. It was a loft space, and my friend was managing it—my tutor from when I was a little girl. He was actually using it as storage. Hạc and I told him about what we were trying to do, and he agreed to let us use it.

The latest Haibayô event we did, we partnered with Uni Uni, who just had their grand opening during Lunar New Year weekend. It was a three-day event, and we had performances and an art gallery in the back.

  • Celebrate Argyle debuted with a video explaining the origin of the Asia on Argyle district.

Our first video is a brief history of how Asia on Argyle got started. The next few videos focus on restaurants. The first one that just came out is Danang Kitchen. We didn’t want to focus on the very popular three dishes—the bánh mì sandwich, the phở, and the spring rolls. Most places don’t have that dish in the video, bánh khọt. When you go to a Vietnamese restaurant, especially on Argyle Street, most places have something very special that’s not promoted. If you’re on Argyle enough, then you know what to get from each place!

  • Celebrate Argyle’s Stop AAPI Hate video

We thought it would be a good idea to celebrate our unique culture with this outdoor event. We want to create a space where there’s Asian American books available, and we want to get the community involved where they can sell their stuff outside. We want to have cultural performances. We want folks to wear their cultural attire if they feel comfortable. I’d be wearing an áo dài, which is a Vietnamese traditional dress. We want to create a safe space to be very proud of who we are. Instead of keeping our heads down and being in fear right now, we’re just giving a fuck you to that. We’re choosing love over hate.  v