Maggie Vo’s improbable Centre College journey
Maggie Vo ’09 has never been one to shy away from a challenge. Making calculated leaps into the new and unknown has practically been the story of her life.
Maybe that’s why the comfort of seeing her old work-study supervisor’s name pop up on her phone every week like clockwork means so much. It’s a touchstone that has remained constant since her first weeks at Centre College.
“Even up until today — I have a family, I have kids, I have my companies. He still calls me twice a week,” Vo said of Morris Stewart, who served as assistant equipment and facilities manager during her time on campus. “He never gets upset if I don’t pick up because of my crazy schedule. He’s one of the most wonderful people I’ve met.”
So how did a former teen pop star in Vietnam turned venture capital groundbreaker build such a tight bond with a retired educator and farmer?
“It’s really a remarkable thing,” Stewart said. “It’s kind of like a movie. You couldn't write it. You couldn't make this up.”
It’s a very Centre story.
LEAVING HOME
Today, Vo is managing general partner and chief investment officer at Fuel Venture Capital, a global firm with $500 million in assets under management and offices in Miami and Silicon Valley.
But just over 21 years ago, she was a high school student in Vietnam and a successful pop music singer in an all-girl group. Even then, she knew that to achieve her dreams, she would have to leave her homeland.
“From early on, I was very determined to study abroad,” she said. “I remember telling my mom that the world was vast and full of opportunities, and I was ready to dive in and explore it. Although my family could not afford to send me overseas, I found a path through an exchange program and came to the U.S.”
Her goal was far from easy: make the most of her time as an exchange student while preparing to apply for college in the U.S.
“I tried to do everything a normal student would do in four years,” she said. “More importantly, I did whatever it took to get accepted by a good school like Centre College.”
She finished high school with strong test scores and embarked on the college application process with an eye toward both her future and her past, deciding between a liberal arts education and a more specialized course of study.
She chose the liberal arts, knowing a broad education would serve her well as she learned more about life in the United States.
“My thought process was, because I’m from overseas, I don't understand the culture at all. I don't have the benefit of sitting at the dining table with family, discussing the economy, government, or religion in the U.S.”
Centre’s high national ranking and generous financial aid package led to her second leap into the unknown: leaving New York for Central Kentucky.
Vo took full advantage of what Centre had to offer, double majoring in Math and Eco-nomics & Finance, joining clubs and studying abroad in England.
“It’s a human tendency to go and hang out with people you feel are familiar,” she said. “When you go into an environment where there are not a lot of people like you, you have to immerse yourself. I think that’s one of the things that made me who I am today.”
She also worked multiple jobs as a student, ushering at the Norton Center for the Arts, grading papers for professors, and tutoring local high school students in math.
But it was her work-study assignment in the equipment room at Sutcliffe that would leave the biggest impact. That’s where she met Stewart — “Coach Morris” as Vo still calls him 20 years later.
AN UNLIKELY BOND
Morris Stewart had already spent his career forging bonds with area students as an educator, coach and administrator before he arrived at Centre.
His experience influenced how he mentored students, particularly the international students adjusting to life far from home.
“When I was 18, I didn’t know anything. I could barely get around my hometown, let alone move to another country and figure it out,” Morris said.
So he took the international students under his wing, inviting them to his home during breaks and helping them in countless small but meaningful ways.
“He and his wife became like my host parents in a way,” Vo recalled. “Every summer when I went back home to Vietnam, he dropped me off at the airport. He let me store my stuff at his house. He always looked out for me. So, we built a really close relationship.”
Their bond grew stronger after Vo graduated from Centre. The new graduate put her degrees to use with local railroad giant R.J. Corman. But not long into that new chapter, Vo suffered a serious injury in a car accident while commuting to work.
“She is a really strong person,” Morris said. “I’ve never seen her down except one time. I met her at the hospital after the accident, and she broke down crying.”
Not only did Vo’s parents spend time at Morris’ home as she recovered, Centre also offered the use of a guest house for her family.
Vo’s strength carried her through, and she recovered from her injuries and returned to work at R.J. Corman. The support she received that summer left a profound impression on her.
“There are so many Centre stories. Who I am today, building a career, building my American dream,” she said. “If I had it all to do over again, I would still choose Centre College.”
Stewart has gotten to know Vo’s husband and daughter. He and his wife recently visited with the family in South Florida.
“I got to take them out on the water in the boat and take them to a Miami Heat game. That was a bucket-list item for him because of all the Kentucky players they have,” Vo said.
Those things were an opportunity for Vo to repay the many kindnesses that made her time in Kentucky better.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
The bold spirit that took Vo from Vietnam to Kentucky continued to play a significant role in her career.
Through a stroke of fate, Vo found herself seated next to the chief investment officer of a hedge fund while on an airplane. He offered advice – and a business card.
“I was in touch with him for a year, literally calling him every week to discuss the market, the economy, and the careers in the investment world,” Vo said. Eventually, he challenged her to take the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exam before discussing a job opportunity.
Vo met the challenge head-on, acing the Level I exam and embarking on a new career path. After six years studying and working in Kentucky, she packed her bags for Florida to join Blue Shores Capital, earning her full CFA charter and rapidly rising to the role of portfolio manager.
Her seismic move away from Kentucky, where she built her network of friends and support system, came as a surprise, especially to her family. But for Vo, it was another chance to test herself and see if she was ready for a new chapter that ultimately brought her closer to the career she had always envisioned.
Six years later, she made another leap: from public to private market. Noticing that many tech companies were staying private longer, often waiting to reach massive scale before going public, Vo saw public market investors increasingly excluded from the key phases of innovation, growth and value creation.
As a result, she made a move into the venture capital world, determined to find early access to the next wave of investment opportunities for her clients. She joined Fuel Venture Capital at an early stage and sought to integrate her hedge fund mindset into private innovation investment, creating what she calls "Hedge Venture," a new category of venture investing.
Playing a key role in the growth of Fuel VC, Vo has become one of the firm’s two managing partners.
“You have to prepare yourself because you don’t know when the opportunity will come,” she said. “A lot of people will say, ‘You were very lucky to have that opportunity.’ I believe everybody receives equal luck and equal opportunity at some point. The question is, will you be ready to recognize the opportunity and catch it? It’s happened to me multiple times in my life.”
ENTREPRENEUR MINDSET
As Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Fuel Venture Capital, Vo partners with entrepreneurs to develop cutting-edge technologies aimed at powering tomorrow’s transformative companies.
“Every day, I’m in the room with entrepreneurs, some seasoned, others just getting started, but all bold enough to build something from nothing,” she said. “My job is to help them turn vision into velocity, and to ensure my investors are front and center as the world is changing rapidly, so they can capture the upside before the rest catch on."
Vo’s journey from humble beginnings to the innovation frontier of global finance has given her a deep appreciation for the risk, resilience and reinvention required to build something extraordinary.
“My entire career has been shaped by the willingness to take calculated risks, embrace a growth mindset, and explore the unknown,” Vo said. “That’s what entrepreneurship is. And I’m proud to champion the next generation as they take their leap forward.”
This article first appeared in the Summer 2025 edition of Centrepiece.
