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OU grad balances antiques, entrepreneurship and operating nonprofits.
Keaton Shaffer | Norman, Oklahoma
In February 2024, while her sister was coordinating a conference, Bella Vu, a senior in her final semester at OU, was sitting in a Stillwater coffee shop.
"I remember the word 'gather' was impressed on my heart," Vu said. "I just remember being like, 'whoa, that seems like more than just a thought.'"
Vu is a 24-year-old business owner, nonprofit director and manager at one of the largest stores on Main Street in Norman.
Vu has been managing at antique store Robinson's Repurposed on Main Street since July. After graduating from OU with a degree in entrepreneurship and marketing, she moved back home to Tulsa for a year. When business picked up with 2 or 3, the Christian discipleship nonprofit she began co-directing in May 2024, she took the leap to return to Norman full time.
"I had no real vision for what I would be doing after college, and I'm still like, 'the vision is … I don't know.' I think it is, though, wearing different hats and having my hands in different things," Vu said. "It's like a big puzzle."
Nonprofit director.
Nonprofit director.
"My passion – why I moved back here – is college students. I believe that the potential in what the Lord is doing among college students right now is undeniable, and that is why I'm here: getting to connect with students and hoping that I can inspire, draw something out of them," Vu said.
2 or 3 connects students to ministries in their community. Vu said the organization, which is undergoing the process for its 501(c)(3) nonprofit designation, brings together ministry leaders for a monthly meeting, promotes intentional discipleship, and does follow-up programming after larger events.
Over the months following February 2024, Vu said she prayed and considered what the inspiration meant. It wasn't until the end of April when, after reconnecting with her former teacher, OU entrepreneurship instructor Bruno Teles, that Vu got a clearer picture.
"I go, and I sit at his desk, and I'm like, 'I don't know what I'm doing here, but like this word 'gather' is impressed upon my heart,'" Vu said. "And he was like, 'Oh, this is crazy. I've been working on this thing called Gather.'"
Teles had been working on Gather, the project which would later become 2 or 3, with Josh Robinson, a mutual friend of Vu's whom she had also reached out to and planned on meeting just a few days later.
"[Teles] was like, 'What was the time this was put on your heart?'" Vu said. "I was like, 'It was around Feb. 7.' He was like, 'I sent my first text to Josh about this on Feb. 7.'"
Vu was about to graduate. Teles told her she could have a really cool story and walk away, or she could join him and Robinson.
"Anytime you get a text out of the blue, it's like, 'okay, well what's the angle here?'" Robinson said. "But it seemed super genuine, and obviously, when Bruno, Bella and I sat down for coffee, it was clear we share a similar passion."
For the next few weeks, Vu met with the two and began progressing the organization. The group sent out invitations to ministries, and in August, 2 or 3 was off the ground. But it being the end of her final semester, Vu was soon headed home to Tulsa.
Business owner.
Business owner.
During her year back home in Tulsa, Vu worked on her wedding floral business, Bella Grace Designs. Vu said she typically does floral arrangements on weekends, but that she did a full year of weddings before returning to Norman, between monthly trips for 2 or 3 and coaching a volleyball team.
"I love to wear different hats, and I love saying yes," Vu said. "That year just taught me a lot. I think life doesn't always look like what you think it should look like after college. Something I'm learning is, 'don't should on yourself,' if you will."
Vu said she got to design floral arrangements for weddings at two of her bucket list venues during her year back home: the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa and Aspen Ranch in Edmond, for which Vu was featured in and considered for the cover of Wed Society.
"That's really thrilling for my first year out really doing this full time," Vu said.
Vu said, at this point, she's designed for 15 to 20 weddings on her own, not counting freelance work she's done with other designers.
"[Vu] is super creative and has lots of ideas and is constantly willing to dream in ways that most people aren't," Robinson said. "I've seen her really model originality."
At the moment, Vu is diverting her attention to her other projects, although she hasn't forgotten about the business.
"Now, I've pulled back. I decided, you know, full time isn't for me, and I just get to take projects that I'm really passionate about, and I view it more as a hobby I get paid to do," Vu said.
Store manager.
Store manager.
Vu had everything lined up in Tulsa. After living at home with her family, she had a job lined up, she was asked to coach again, floral business connections were growing strong – but just about a year ago, a year after her initial inspiration for 2 or 3, she began wondering if that's where she was meant to land.
"Should I move to Norman?" she said. "If that's what I'm supposed to do, I'll do it."
Vu said she took a month, prayed and considered the move. She returned to Norman in the beginning of June.
"I took a month, prayed about it, came out of that month … really resolved, and like, this is what the Lord has for me," Vu said.
When she returned to Norman in June, a friend recommended Vu apply for the manager position at Robinson's.
Vu was looking for a job and had found a few opportunities, but nothing was working out, especially considering her other gigs. Right after she returned from a mission trip to Ghana, a friend sent Vu a screenshot of an Instagram post from Robinson's: they were looking for a manager.
"This is the only open door, so I'm just going to say yes," Vu said.
An hour after her interview, Vu was offered the job. Aside from enjoying the artistic, storytelling and media-making elements of her job at Robinson's, Vu said she's happy it has been able to support her and facilitate her other ambitions.
'Saying yes.'
'Saying yes.'
Vu, back in Norman full time, is now deeper into the work at 2 or 3 than ever before.
The 2 or 3 website, Vu said, acts kind of like a menu.
"When I was at OU, I didn't know about all the ministries that existed unless the ministry leaders themselves reached out to me, or I had a friend, or, like, word of mouth," Vu said. "We're not a ministry. We're not a landing page. We're, hopefully, a bridge to get people connected."
While working on 2 or 3, Vu and Robinson began working on a second nonprofit project called Fill This Space, which was launched this semester. Vu described FTS as a leadership and discipleship training school for students. Fill This Space, even in naming convention, is heavily inspired by Robinson's endeavor with collaborator Nathan Wong called Fill the Stadium in April 2023.
Vu has taken charge of marketing and social media for the organization.
"She brings a unique ability to execute on some of the more creative ideas we have, whether it's building out a website or running social media, and really, most importantly, being super hospitable with the students and the ministry leaders," Robinson said.
The goal for 2 or 3 and FTS, Vu said, is to create an ecosystem.
"If you have students that are wanting to get plugged in, involved with a campus ministry, they go to 2 or 3 … what the churches and ministries do is they create leaders, and then the leaders come back to us through FTS," Vu said.
Vu said FTS is meant to help facilitate outreach, helping students create "an FTS moment," similar to Robinson and Wong's Fill the Stadium.
"[We] are trying to come alongside leaders that carry a vision and a heart for what God is doing among college students," Vu said.
Vu hopes to take 2 or 3 and FTS nationally.
"I've gotten to talk to students at different campuses and bring this up and they're like, 'I would love for something like that to come,'" Vu said.
Vu said while she wants to see the organizations expand, she doesn't want to be responsible for it all. She said she wants to be able to share materials and business plans with sister organizations to raise up other leaders.
"By no means is it about me or do I want to be the one leading it in that way," Vu said. "How can I just create, help facilitate little ecosystems all across the world?"
Vu said over the last year, she's learned about the beauty of being able to do a "ton of things," but she wants to do "a ton of things with excellence."
In pursuing so many ambitions, Vu said she's had to learn that one can only excel at so many things — five things, actually.
"It's gonna be funny to reflect on this moment even later … there's really only five things you can be excellent at," Vu said. "If I want to be an excellent mom and wife one day, that already takes up one."
To Vu, time is like money. You only have so much of it, and you can spend it, or you can invest it. Right now, she said, it's time to decide where that money is going to go.
"What I hoped 2025 was marked by was saying 'yes' more than I had to say 'no.' Great," Vu said. "Now in 2026, I need to say 'no' to make room for the 'yeses,' so I can be excellent at those 'yeses.'"
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