A Year in Review: 2024
My third go at writing a year in review.
Published on: December 20, 2024
It’s that time of year again!
This is my third go at writing a year in review and, upon reflecting on 2024, I can’t help but feel gratitude over how much I laughed, how much quality time I had with friends and family, and how much growth I experienced in my career over the last twelve months.
Last year, I took some time at the end of every month to answer these questions:
What experiences did I have this month?
What did those experiences mean to me?
What major realizations did I have as a result?
Unfortunately, I was not on top of regular reflection this year (In fact, things got real busy and I stopped as soon as February), but I did jot down some notes along the way, even if it wasn't a full-fledged reflection. So here is the culmination of all of those little notes.
Health
Running made a comeback for me more so in the last quarter of this year, and it was all thanks to a nifty app I discovered called Runna. I had sprinkled in random miles throughout the last twelve months but couldn’t quite stick to a plan. It was overwhelming to keep track of what was an appropriate easy pace, tempo pace, and challenging pace, especially since I did the majority of my running on a treadmill due to Texas’s extreme climate in the summer and winter. As someone who's not a professional athlete or a coach, it was difficult for me to know what a well-rounded training plan looked like.
But, sometime in November I decided to do a test run of an app (no pun intended) that was one of three finalists for Apple’s 2024 App Store Awards. I’m now five weeks in and, aside from a break due to spending Thanksgiving in LA followed by a subsequent cold, I’m on track to run the Cowtown Half Marathon in Fort Worth this coming February.
Details I appreciate most about Runna's experience:
How seamlessly it combines strength and running workouts into a robust plan for me
The ability to set a pace by switching between running outside and on a treadmill
The easy-to-follow animations for the strength workouts and the integrated timers
While I didn't log 400 miles like I wanted to this year for a number of reasons, I'm at 93 so far and should hit ~120 by December 31! Still, I'm going to strive for 400 again because my 15-week half-marathon training plan is projected to total 238.2 miles, so that helps supplement a good chunk of my goal for next year.
I really, really love this app and I'm trying to make more use of this online home I have (read: this portfolio site) so expect a more thorough write-up about Runna in the new year—likely in late February following the completion of my race.
Lexi and I also decided to try out the Oura ring this year, and so far we've really been loving it. It's definitely made me more mindful of some of the behaviors I engage in while winding down, like eating or consuming alcohol too close to bedtime. I was also pleasantly surprised to learn that I'm not as stressed out of a person as I thought I was 🌝 It depends on what's going on, but on average I'm only stressed out 45 minutes each day, which is way less than I had originally thought. Oddly enough, this realization helped me chill out even more.
Passions
Filmmaking
The event that stood out most to me in January was that I rushed to the finish line for a screenplay competition; while I didn’t get accepted into the inaugural screenwriting camp the competition was for, I did get a 60-page screenplay out of it for a story I really care about telling. It was my first time ever writing one for a full-length feature whereas in the past I only wrote for short films. I was disappointed, but it was just my first go-around and I 100% plan to keep at it. It was a long couple of weeks of investing all my energy into writing, but it showed me that I am capable of writing a full-length screenplay.
Also, I decided this year that I was sick of just talking about making short films and needed to dive in headfirst.
One of my initial concepts revolved around interviewing all three sets of my parents (my mom and dad, Lexi’s mom and stepdad, and then Lexi’s dad and stepmom) after recognizing how lucky Lexi and I are to have not just one set of parents who love and accept us, but three—especially when they all come from such different backgrounds. I wanted to learn more about whether or not parenthood was what they had expected it to be, the trials and tribulations they faced, and how raising children has changed them, if at all. This has been very top of mind as Lexi and I have started thinking about embarking on our own journey to parenthood.
But then in April we realized it was my parents' 30th wedding anniversary, and Lexi actually suggested making a short film about them and their marriage. I started coming up with interview questions and realized that something I've really come to admire through the years is how much fun they continue to have. It's easy to see how I ended up as silly as I did when you witness my parents in action.
I called this short film "Kiếp Này Với Kiếp Sau," which translates to "This Life and the Next," and I would consider it my favorite labor of love thus far. I feel so fortunate that I now have this memento to share with my future kids, and they'll be able to see just how much love their grandparents shared with each other as well as what Vietnam was like in the late nineties.
I'm really going to try to carry my spirit of "Just do it" from this past spring into the new year. Who cares if what I make isn't a cinematic masterpiece every time! The only way I'm going to get better is through practice.
Photography
I was actually fighting for my life on Best Buy support chats at the beginning of this year…
Fujifilm released the X100VI and I grossly underestimated how popular this model was. I've never signed up for or downloaded Tik Tok so I didn't realize how ravenous the general public was for the X100V, its predecessor. I placed my B&H order on February 24, four days after its release date, and boy, was that a mistake.
Fun fact: I only just received my original February 24 B&H order on December 13, nearly ten months after my initial purchase date.
I was eager to get my hands on the X100VI prior to all my summer travel—especially before heading to Alaska—so by the three-month mark of waiting, I got antsy and, thanks to this Reddit thread, I knew to spend my weekday mornings in the Best Buy support chat. I talked to countless agents while inquiring about the availability of this newly released model. Chat after chat, day after day, week after week, everyone said that they were out of luck…until someone named Blake hooked me up with a silver one. I received that unit and then, I kid you not, I received my black X100VI a week after that. And no, it wasn't my original B&H order; it was an order I placed from a local camera shop in Portland, Oregon. Absolutely bananas.
Suffice to say, it was a JOURNEY getting this camera into my hands. But once I received it, I immediately put it to use. In the six months that I've owned it, my shutter count has reached 21,492. It's been such a fun experience shooting my day-to-day with this camera and I appreciate that it's not as bulky as my Sony A7S3 and Canon 5DMK4, which I whip out for more "serious" shoots.
But I love it. It has significantly cut down my editing time since I actually don't edit my photos at all anymore and just upload straight out of camera; all that I really have to do with my X100VI photos is sort them and I'm always happy with the color grading since I set up my film recipe in-camera. When I tell you this has saved me HOURS…I mean it. I'm a very happy girl! The majority of the photos you see at the end of this review stemmed from my Fujifilm.
Outside of having a fun new camera to play with, where I invested most of my photography skills this year was at a friend's restaurant! Between August and November, I spent the first Friday of each month at Quarter Acre, a Dallas gem in Lower Greenville serving global cuisine. My good friend and neighbor, Chef Toby Archibald, invited me to photograph and film his Drifter Dinner series, a collaboration with guest chefs for one-night-only menus. The lineup of chefs included Diego Galicia, executive chef at Mixtli (San Antonio’s first Michelin-starred restaurant); and Gavin Kaysen, who’s cooked for Oprah, President Obama, and the Dalai Lama. What began as a creative partnership surrounding food quickly transformed into an educational experience. Working behind the scenes with Chef Toby and his team taught me lessons I’ve carried into my own leadership style and design process at Dialexa (and especially my cooking at home), and you can read more about those lessons here.
Cooking
Speaking of food…
I never thought I'd reach this point, but I have grown so comfortable with cooking that I now feel pretty confident just throwing meals together and trusting that it'll taste good. I still rely on recipes here and there, especially if I'm making something for the first time, but I'm finding that I don't feel as confined by measurements and instructions, which is exciting.
Some dishes I free-styled and ended up really enjoying:
Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta
Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup
Chicken Curry
Seafood Udon Soup
Spanish Chicken and Rice
Lots of my friends and colleagues have told me that I should apply to be a contestant on a cooking competition and I often respond with, "I'll do it when I feel like I can whip up meals more easily without relying on a recipe." Looks like I'm getting closer and closer to that milestone…Who knows, maybe 2025 is the year 😉
Family
Family time is what I'm most grateful for this year. For the first six months, I had the privilege of flying back home to San Jose once a month. Even my childhood best friends said, "Wow, I'm seeing you more than I see our other friends who actually live here!" During those first six months, I got to celebrate my parents’ birthday with them as well as their 30th wedding anniversary, Lunar New Year, Patty and Cheryl's wedding, Stripe Sessions, and Config.
In July, I flew to Seattle at the beginning of the month to set sail for Alaska with my in-laws and returned two weeks later for my cousin's wedding. Lexi wasn't able to join me for said wedding so it was solely me and my sister, but it was really nice getting that quality time with her. Michelle and I are eight years apart and I feel like I finally had the chance to get to know her as an adult. It was her first time in the PNW so the two of us explored the pier, visited museums, ate incredible food, and danced our pants off together at our cousin Jenn's wedding. Michelle was also in the midst of her recruiting/HR internship at RPA, an advertising agency based in Los Angeles, and it was cool to see my sister as a workin' girl this summer!
During Thanksgiving, we spent the week with Lexi’s dad’s side in Los Angeles and made magical memories at California Adventure, Disneyland, and Universal Studios. Admittedly, sometimes I look at Disney adults and really question their decisions, but now I get it. These parks are really so magical, and you have to applaud Disney and Universal's attention to detail and how immersive each ride and experience is; my favorite was experiencing Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Hollywood and getting a photo with Toad, my hero. Still, you won't find me with an annual pass to any of these places anytime soon, though it was really fun experiencing that with Bruce, Greta, Courtney, Scott, Ryann, Zane, Clint, Mandi, Holli, Carder, and Candi (Carder's girlfriend).
Travel
Lol at Lexi and I starting this year like “Let’s make an effort to travel less because we’re so tired of living out of a suitcase!” only to collectively spend 102 days out of town (This number excludes the upcoming Christmas holiday). What. In. The. World. How can we still be so naive?
Notable new places we experienced this year: Alaska, Broken Bow, Cape Cod, and New Orleans
Alaska was the most picturesque, and something that Lexi and I keep sharing with people is that, if you're going to go on any cruise, Alaska is the one. I think the key to seeing this gorgeous state is jetting from one island to another via boat. Otherwise, you'll be spending a lot of money on numerous plane tickets and having to figure out so many more aspects of your trip, like lodging, transportation, food, etc. I won't write about it in detail since I created a whole presentation for it using Figma, which you can view here (Pro tip: hit "Z" on your keyboard to adjust the zoom experience to your liking).
But the travel memory that I WILL write about is one that left its mark on my heart this past October.
I'm 100% a Type A planner but I also have a penchant for spontaneity, and I'm so grateful to have married someone who understands that and even goes so far as to stoke that fire. On October 25, Lexi and I went on a whirlwind 24-hour adventure, spending 14 of those hours in New Orleans (my first time!) to catch night one of the Eras Tour in NOLA. We flew back to Dallas early Saturday to make it in time to support our close friend at her tree-planting event and to lead our team at the Out of the Darkness suicide awareness walk in Arlington.
It was a super quick turnaround, but we managed to make the most out of our time in this culturally rich and spooky city. The French Quarter was ready for Halloween with nearly every building decked out with skeletons, spider webs, hanging ghosts, and palm readings taking place at every corner we looked. It was so, so special being there during Halloween weekend. We also ate Louisiana staples like beignets, spicy fried okra, a shrimp basket, seafood gumbo, a roast beef po' boy, a blue raspberry snowball, and some good ol' pizza at 1:00am at a joint with the most charming courtyard.
I also experienced the most uncomfortable sleep of my life since TSA didn't open until 3:30am and we arrived at 2:30am (undoubtedly the earliest Lexi will ever show up at the airport, ever), but we made it work. We then boogied straight from the airport to Lower Greenville, where we found our friend Marianna with a bunch of volunteers and shovels and spent forty-five minutes helping them plant trees. And then finally, we ended those wild twenty-four hours at a suicide awareness walk in honor of our brother Alan. Following the walk, we drove straight home and took a very, very long nap.
Like Lexi and I joked at the airport while waiting to board our 6:00am flight back to Dallas on Saturday morning, this was probably the most ridiculous (and most expensive) date night of our lives. But I'm so thankful for this core memory with my favorite person. We've agreed to allow ourselves one experience like this per year, though it will probably be significantly more affordable since we won't have to pay for two tickets to a sold-out tour for the most famous pop star in the world 😂
Work
This was, without a doubt, the most challenging year of my career.
Let's just say 2024 gave 2023 a run for its money. The pattern of having to engage in difficult conversations about unexpected topics persisted. I recognize where I fell short as a leader due to not providing more firm and direct feedback sooner, where I succeeded in trying to equip my teammates with the right guidance and resources, and how I plan to be better next year; the specifics of these lessons will continue to live in my own private journal.
That said, I skew towards optimism, so here are the top five most rewarding moments of my career from this past year:
When I paired both my direct reports together on a new initiative and they slacked me separately gushing about the other person
When one of my direct reports expressed that this is the safest she's felt sharing her personal trials and tribulations with a manager
When four of five of my stakeholders showed up to support me and my talk at Figma Unbound
When, following my talk, my primary stakeholder told me I shine best when I'm evangelizing UX design
When I learned that I had earned my promotion from Manager to Senior Manager
This was Dialexa's final round of promotions before we officially become IBMers in February, and I am so, so proud to share that I've earned a cohort promotion each year that I've been at Dialexa. I went from being someone who was afraid of leading projects and someone who turned away from management to becoming the lead of our largest design account and someone with two happy direct reports.
Recently, I was asked to be one of the IBM DFW chapter leads alongside my manager, Karli, and I'm really excited to see how I continue to develop as a designer, team lead, and community-builder over the next year. I still don't think my parents fully grasp what I do for work, but they do recognize IBM 🌝 Alas, here's to the next chapter of my career!
Content Consumption
The other day, as I was putting the final touches on this year in review, I asked aloud, "God, what have we even watched this year? I can't think of anything." Lexi responded, "Girl, we've been busy. We've barely had time to keep up with anything." And she was right. Every month felt so eventful and go-go-go. But! Whenever I found a moment of reprieve, these were the songs, films, shows, and books I found joy and comfort in the most:
Music
"Good Luck, Babe!" by Chappell Roan
"Toro" by Remi Wolf
"Deep Down (feat. Never Dull)" by Alok, Ella Eyre, Kenny Dope, Never Dull
"Illusion" by Dua Lipa
"Espresso" by Sabrina Carpenter
"A Tear in Space (Airlock)" by Glass Animals
"Red Wine Supernova" by Chappell Roan
"Concrete Wall" by Zee Avi
"Cruel Summer" by Taylor Swift
"Creatures in Heaven" by Glass Animals
Film
DÌDI
Saltburn
Wicked
Monkey Man
Will & Harper
Television
Baby Reindeer
Nobody Wants This
Omnivore
Bridgerton
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives
Literature
Last year my goal was to read 12 books, and this year I'm happy to report that I did better than 2022 and 2023 combined. I listened to fourteen books in total and below are my top five:
"Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect" by Will Guidara (Thank you, Peyton, for this recommendation!)
"Ideaflow: The Only Business Metric That Matters" by Jeremy Utley and Perry Klebahn
"Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things" by Adam Grant
"Hello Beautiful" by Ann Napolitano
"Big Swiss" by Jen Beagin
Final Thoughts
Recently, I had the realization that I'm pretty much living my dream life. Lexi and I are excelling in our careers, traveling a ton, finding time to indulge in all of our interests and hobbies, and making plans to become parents soon. We have friends and family who love us and regularly make time to see us. We have a fridge full of food every single night and a warm home filled with all of our favorite things.
That said, I can't gloss over the fact that the results of this year's election managed to jolt me even more than they did in 2016. In general, I am worried about LGBTQ+ rights and our plans to grow our family, but I also know I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that Lexi and I are okay. I allowed myself the space to grieve the election results and, while I can't understand why some of my loved ones can vote the way they do and claim to love me and Lexi all the same, I have had enough of being sad and disappointed about it. It's a horrible feeling and I don't want to live in it for so long because that's just going to ruin all the other things I've been looking forward to. I know I'm a toxic optimist, and it's to a fault sometimes. But I would much rather live this way than live in all the sorrow and numbness I experienced that first week of November.
Surprisingly enough, the place that offered me the most comfort was LinkedIn 😂 I stumbled upon two quotes that got me through that depressing week. The first quote:
"I never have been in despair about the world. I’ve been enraged by it. I don’t think I’m in despair. I can’t afford despair. I can’t tell my nephew, my niece. You can’t tell the children there’s no hope." — James Baldwin
And this second one:
"There's no single answer that will solve all of our future problems. There's no magic bullet. Instead there are thousands of answers—at least. You can be one of them if you choose to be." — Octavia E. Butler
May we change our lives, in big and small ways and find ways to resist power, forever.
So! That's the energy I'm carrying into this next year and, really, the rest of my life. No one deserves to rob me and my loved ones of our joy, and I'm going to keep choosing hope where I can. I recognize that there's only so much in my control so I'm not going to dwell on the things I can't change.
That said, I'm very excited to share something that was in our control. Lexi and I finally crossed off another relationship milestone! After nine long months, we were approved to change our last name; we are now legally the Reings. There's a more thorough reflection to come, but I'm officially ending 2024 as "Le Tang" and starting 2025 as "Le Reing." That feels surreal to say, especially since we've been married for five years…But that's one step closer to protecting our future children and family unit. Next year, I look forward to taking even more concrete steps to grow our family.
TL;DR it's not until you self-impose a reflection that forces you to look through the 26,000 photos you captured from the past year that you realize how joyous of a life you live. I could cry about how happy and lucky I feel to be in this place in my life. If 2025 even comes close to 2024, I know I'll be alright.
—
If you've read this far, thank you. And if you didn't get enough, well, enjoy my photo round-up for 2024:
