Stories
When the Local Steel Mill Closed, This Mexican Immigrant Started a Business and Hired Americans
When Racine Steel Castings laid off its workers in the 1990s, welder Lauro Davalos found himself better prepared than many. Long determined to give his children something he’d never had — a good education — Davalos had already started a business in downtown Racine, the Southeast Wisconsin town… Read More
A Look at Successful Restaurant Owner Who ‘Came Here with Nothing’
Lauro Davalos was 17 and alone when he crossed the border from Mexico. He’d graduated from the first grade only, then had to work. The United States, he’d gleefully tell people on the family farm, offered better, and he was going. After a circuitous route through… Read More
Inspired by his Refugee Parents, Cuban Entrepreneur Builds a Successful Liquor Business
When Rick Martinez’s parents sought to leave Cuba in the 1970s, the government punished Martinez’s family. Later, the regime relented and allowed them to leave with only the clothes on their backs. “I look back at everything they did, and I can’t fathom leaving my country like that,” says Martinez,… Read More
CEO of Indianapolis Power and Light Believes Immigrants Power State Economy
After graduating from university in Puerto Rico, Rafael Sanchez and his wife sold their belongings and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to study law – only to realize that Fort Wayne didn’t have a law school. “When you’re young and stupid, your only due diligence is, ‘Where do we know… Read More
Smart Immigration Policy a Competitive Advantage, Says South African Immigrant Entrepreneur
Greg Fisher grew up in a small town outside Johannesburg, South Africa, where he had a successful career with Deloitte and started a corporate e-learning company that hit $1 million in annual revenues before he sold it to a large consulting firm. Now, Fisher, who was recently named one of… Read More
A Former Migrant Worker Sends Young Immigrants to the Ivy League
Martin Mares has achieved something single-handedly that virtually no other person in the United States has done. He’s personally helped over 280 teenagers from Parlier, Calif. and the surrounding communities, many of them ESL students from poor immigrant families, earn acceptance into the Ivy Leagues. Over a 1,500 more of… Read More
Cuban Immigrant Comes Up with a Valuable Healthcare Idea for Visitors
“I’m so blessed to have been given the opportunity by this wonderful country to enter as an immigrant and build my life here,” says Cuban-born entrepreneur Ileana Thomas, the founding CEO of Medical Services Corporation (MSC), an Orlando-based company that provides medical “house calls” to tourists. Thomas had arrived in… Read More
New Americans ‘Find a Way’ to Success, says President of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Today, Mexican immigrant Palermo Galindo is president of the Greater Fort Wayne Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Indiana and serves as the city’s community liaison officer, working with over 200 neighborhood associations. “As a person who wasn’t born in this country, this is my way to pay something back,” he… Read More
This Republican Business Owner Is Frustrated by How Long the Immigration Process Can Take
Native Ecuadorian, Republican, and conservative Christian Rosie Paulsen has dedicated much of her career to helping her fellow immigrants in Pasco County, Florida start and grow their own businesses. It’s why, in 2009, she founded the Pasco/Hernando Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. “There were a lot of international people that were… Read More
CEO Barry Zhang Says High Tech Manufacturing Companies Depend on Machine Operators from Abroad
Barry Zhang already had two degrees when he came to the United States from China to study at Princeton University. There he earned a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering. His wife’s U.S. employer sponsored her for a green card, and Zhang gained residency as her dependent around the time… Read More
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