Sam Korsmoe

is an American from the state of Montana. He lived and worked in Asia from 1985 to 2004 (2.5 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippines, 4.5 years in Taiwan as an English teacher, teacher trainer, and writer and then 11.5 years in Vietnam as a business journalist and entrepreneur) and then again from 2014 to the present day (four years in Shanghai and five years in HCM City as a writer, teacher and education consultant).

He is the founder and director of Yellowstone English/Environmental Studies Program International (YESPI).  This is an American university accredited outdoor education program for high school students.  It is based in the Yellowstone region of America.  He is also the founder and race director of the Greater Yellowstone Adventure Series, a seven-event, 10-race series in the Yellowstone region of America.  Every year the races attract several hundred athletes from around the United States and several foreign countries.

Sam has written extensively on business, culture, education, and sports for several publications. He has published numerous market and industrial research reports about Vietnam and Cambodia for various companies and foreign governments while managing Mekong Research, a market research consultancy that he founded in Vietnam in 1997.  He has been interviewed numerous times by international media including the New York Times, CNN, BBC, Financial Times, Reuters, and other publications.  He has traveled to nearly every country in Asia for extended trips.  He has studied and can speak Vietnamese (fluent), Mandarin Chinese (survival), and Chavacano (near fluency). 

He is the author of two published books.  An oral history of Vietnam titled Saigon Stories (published in 2006) and a nonfiction book on marathons and other sporting events titled A World Gone Mad for Marathons (published in 2019).  He is currently working on a third book about the future of Vietnam which will be published in 2023.  He is also the founder of the Saigon Writers Club, a club that hosts private and in-person creative writing classes for people who have always wanted to write and publish fiction.  The Club has published three anthologies of short stories and will continue to publish anthologies in 2023.

Sam has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Montana State University, a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Washington, and a TEFL certificate for teaching English.  His Master’s thesis was on the renovation reforms (Doi Moi) of Vietnam.  He has been engaged with Vietnam since 1990 and has been living and working in Vietnam for more than half this time.  He currently lives in the Thao Dien District of Ho Chi Minh City.