Podcast: Seeing the Power of Privilege at Play with Savan Kong
I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Khmer Voices podcast to talk about something deeply personal—what it means to navigate privilege when you come from a background where nothing was guaranteed.
I shared my journey from growing up in South Seattle as a Cambodian refugee to attending Lakeside School, where the contrast between my world and that of my classmates was stark. We talked about grit, luck, and the often invisible systems that shape opportunity—and what it means to hold space for others while owning your own story.
Why Term Limits Should Be the Norm for Government Innovators
I’ve seen this problem from nearly every angle.
At the Defense Digital Service (DDS), I built tools side-by-side with warfighters whose lives depended on getting it right. Later, standing up the Customer Experience Office (CXO), I helped craft enterprise strategy and policy across sprawling federal systems. Outside government, I served as a general manager at Rebellion Defense, and now as an advisor to MO Studio, supporting mission-driven design and technology teams working in complex public environments.
Through these experiences, one truth stands out:
The department suffers from a lack of motion.
The Death of Grit
Last weekend, I stood at the edge of a soggy soccer field, watching my daughter’s team warm up under gray skies. The drills were basic: footwork, passing, shots on goal. But halfway through, I saw her slump her shoulders after missing a save, then glance toward the sideline to see if I had noticed. I did. What I saw wasn’t just frustration—it was a quiet unraveling. Not because she didn’t care. But because she did. And because caring without immediate success is one of the hardest emotional weights to carry at her age.
I walked over during the break, knelt next to her, and asked how she was feeling. “I’m just not good at this,” she said. “It’s too hard.” That’s when it hit me: she wasn’t struggling with technique—she was struggling with struggle itself.
What We Built, What We Lost
There are places that shape us. Not because they’re perfect, but because they let us show up as we are, and do work that matters. For me, the Defense Digital Service was that place.
I joined DDS because it wasn’t like the others.
My time at DDS wasn’t defined by a single project — it was a blur of missions stacked on top of each other, each demanding urgency, clarity, and heart. I worked on everything from counter-unmanned aerial systems (cUAS) to critical efforts tied to the Afghanistan evacuation. When the team needed support on recruiting, I stepped in there too — because at DDS, titles didn’t box you in. If something needed doing, you did it.
It was a flat organization — no hierarchy to climb, no corner office to covet. Everyone held the same title. No one was angling for a promotion or polishing their résumé for the next big job. We were time-bound — temporary stewards of a mission that would continue after us, if we did it right.