Stories
Taiwanese Immigrant Engineer Turned Mayor in West Windsor
Shing-Fu HsuehFormer Mayor of West Windsor Shing-Fu Hsueh (pronounced “Shay”) came to New Jersey from Taiwan in 1969 with $300 in his pocket and a heavy accent that required help from a speech therapist. Despite these challenges, he went on to become a successful environmental engineer, professor, and… Read More
Iranian Student Turned Healthcare CEO Helps Hundreds Fight COVID-19 in Mercer County
Al MaghazehePresident & CEO, Capital Health Al Maghazehe came to the United States as an international student in 1977, but when the Iranian Revolution broke out a year later, he realized he couldn’t safely return home. Raised in a tight-knit family, Maghazehe struggled with loneliness at first,… Read More
Mechanical Engineer Builds Bridges Across Communities
When General Electric Transportation/Wabtec offered Brittany Lee Fisher a job as a mechanical engineer in Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP) in 2016, she jumped at the chance. The daughter of Korean and Japanese immigrants, Fisher knew the position would allow her to build a strong career and make her… Read More
Kyrgyzstan Refugee Helps Welcome Newcomers to Erie
Anna Tischenko loved her tight-knit community in Kyrgyzstan and dreamed of living near her parents. Anna grew up nonreligious, but after marrying a Baptist Christian—a religious minority—she saw a different side of her country. When her husband was younger, he didn’t feel safe walking alone because gangs and corrupt… Read More
Immigrant Entrepreneur Shares Culture through Pinatas
Esther Ortiz was born in Mexico and spent her childhood straddling the California border, but she found her home in Erie. In 1994, her parents landed jobs at Plastek, a local plastics manufacturing company and settled in Erie’s upper west side neighborhood. Their family of 11 – her parents… Read More
From Syria to Erie: Immigrant Family Finds Success and Community
Mahmoud Albaradan had a thriving used car dealership in Daraa, Syria. But in 2011, anti-government protests propelled the city into civil war. As violence escalated, Mahmoud, his wife and their six children, along with his brother’s family of nine, fled for their lives. In 2016, after four years in… Read More
Luis Saavedra
I’m 40, an American citizen and have helped build senior engineering teams at Google, Apple and Amazon before landing in my current job at Twitter. But in 1986, at the age of six, I was an undocumented migrant from Peru. It took two attempts to cross the border and… Read More
Julie Romero
I was born in Barranquilla, Colombia, a vibrant coastal city known for its annual Carnaval and for being Shakira’s birthplace. I remember days filled with the elongated notes from an accordion in a vallenato song and family gatherings over a warm sancocho. Unfortunately, that magic was destroyed by the… Read More
New American Kitchen
New American Kitchen MáLà Project Special Recipe Amelie Kang, founder of MáLà Project We were so excited to have Amelie Kang join us Tuesday, April 28, for a very special and exclusive demo on our Instagram Live! Amelie taught us how to make delicious and… Read More
“My Sun in Aquarius” Comedy Benefit Show
On Friday, May 15, 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, New American Economy, in partnership with the New York State Youth Leadership Council and comedian Julio Torres (Saturday Night Live, HBO’s Los Espookys and My Favorite Shapes), hosted “My Sun in Aquarius,” a digital comedy show to benefit undocumented… Read More
All gifts are matched dollar for dollar
No one should face the immigration system alone
