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AAPI Heritage Month Highlight: Phu Dang
May 29, 2025
For AAPI Heritage Month, we are highlighting some of our AAPI members doing great work in the real estate, development, and investment sector.
Phu Dang is a fourth year at UC San Diego (UCSD) and a ULI San Diego-Tijuana Etkin Scholar. Phu is a Vietnamese student double majoring in data science and real estate and development (RED) and minoring in urban studies and planning (USP). His main interests lie in commercial real estate, especially investment sales brokerage.
“There is immense satisfaction in bringing places to fruition…our work shapes where people live and build their lives.”
Phu’s interest in commercial real estate stems from many parts of his identity. As someone who enjoys working with people, he appreciates the way that this industry emphasizes relationships and thrives in that social environment. Additionally, he was drawn to a career in the built environment because of the value it can provide for people. “There is immense satisfaction in bringing places to fruition, from capital allocation to asset reposition, exchanges, or ground-up development; our work shapes where people live and build their lives,” Phu says. Furthermore, Phu appreciates the opportunities the field provides for financial independence, saying that his biggest priority is family and giving back to them and future generations.
Phu was born and raised in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at 12 years old. Although it was a challenging experience, he likes to focus on how the process of overcoming barriers helped him grow, rather than the struggles he faced. Moving to the US at the cusp of his teenage years allowed him to step outside of his comfort zone and increase his confidence. “I’m grateful for putting myself out there and not being afraid. It was worth it at the end of the day,” Phu says. He also notes that he appreciates the values that his family taught him, which he says keep him going every day. “My parents were very supportive and taught me to think about values that last in life, persisting in the long term, not just the short term. It allowed me to invest in myself and my future.” He shared excitement about starting his next chapter in investment sales brokerage and hopes to give back to his home country, Vietnam, in the future. This goal is part of what inspired him to persevere through college and continues to motivate him.
This year is Phu’s second time as Etkin Scholar. “It changed my life,” Phu says. He started off his ULI experience with one of our national conferences—ULI Fall Meeting 2023 in LA was the first event he ever attended—and he says that it had an incredible impact on him. Throughout the conference, he immensely enjoyed and related to what he was learning and felt his interests really click. He was also able to connect with people from ULI Asia-Pacific, which was especially meaningful to him. Overall, it empowered him to engage even more with ULI and the industry. “I felt equipped with a mission-oriented mindset. I enjoyed my USP and RED classes more and felt more confident and knowledgeable about them. It really inspired me to truly pursue commercial real estate.”
“You will gain confidence and competence much sooner than you can realize once you’ve earned it.”
After graduating in June, Phu will be joining Marcus & Millichap’s Palo Alto office as a Junior Investment Associate. For fellow students, he encourages them to be courageous and particularly recommends ULI events to connect with senior professionals in the field. “Be a sponge—listen and learn as much as you can and talk to as many people as you can. Commercial real estate relationships work in miraculous ways.” He also says to push through the discomfort of being new to this environment: “You will gain confidence and competence much sooner than you can realize once you’ve earned it.”
Thank you to Phu for his involvement with ULI and for sharing about his journey in the industry.