Stories
First-Generation Mexican-American Serves His Community Through His Business
At age 10, Victor Puga left his native Mexico for Kentucky. Since his father had been naturalized through the Reagan Amnesty of 1986, Puga arrived as a U.S. citizen. Still, his path wasn’t easy. He became a father at a young age and dropped out of school to work for… Read More
Bosnian Refugee Helps Start National Trucking Company from Scratch
Amira Zukic came to America with close to nothing, but after learning English and working hard, she and her husband now run one of Kentucky’s largest trucking companies, with $17 million in annual revenues. The secret to their success? “A lot of work, a lot of work, a lot… Read More
Dallas News: Trump backlash? Dallas, Houston and others put out the welcome mat for immigrants
As in America, there are two kinds of Texas. One pushes a bathroom bill that targets transgender students and dismisses the hit on Texas’ business-friendly image, and the other rises up in opposition and holds off the measure. One passes a “show me your papers” law that bans sanctuary cities, and… Read More
After Fleeing Bloodshed in Gambia, Immigrant Entrepreneur Starts Successful Business in Little Rock
In 2000, when Maf Sonko was 15, his family fled a bloody government crackdown on student demonstrations in their native Gambia. They received asylum and settled in North Carolina, where Sonko finished high school and earned a degree in industrial engineering from North Carolina State University Since then, Sonko… Read More
Multilingual Immigrant Uses Her Skills to Advise Corpus Christi Business Community
Growing up under a dictatorial regime in Panama, Lorena Parada-Valdes longed to live in a democratic country. In 1979, she had her chance. That year, she was one of just four Panamanian college students to receive a merit-based scholarship to study in the United States. After graduating from Bates… Read More
Indian Native Finds Success in America, Gives Back to Adoptive Home of Corpus Christi
Indian native Kamlesh Bhikha grew up in an entrepreneurial family. His grandfather was a sugarcane and cotton farmer and his father manufactured diamonds, selling the gems he’d fashioned from rough stones. Bhikha also aspired to be his own boss. “The harder you work, the more you reap,’” he says. “And… Read More
Pioneering Latina Aviator Tells the Stories of Other Latinos
A child of Mexican immigrants, Graciela Tiscareño-Sato grew up in small, north Colorado towns dominated by meatpacking plants. Her mother worked on the assembly line, her father in high-end men’s clothing stores as a tailor. Together they raised five children. It was stable, honest work, says Tiscareño-Sato, but she aspired… Read More
After Finally Escaping Vietnam, Refugee Works to Help Those Who Come After Him
In 1982, at age 31, Walter Nguyen made his fifth and final attempt to escape Vietnam. Prior attempts had landed him in jail, but he did not have a choice. Food was scarce, and, because he had worked as a press officer for U.S.-backed South Vietnamese forces, the communist government… Read More
Maine Dreamer: ‘People Should Not Be Living in Fear in America’
“EM,” a young immigrant brought to the United States from El Salvador at the age of 3, has been living in fear since the Trump administration announced in September 2017 that it would phase out DACA unless Congress takes action. “If something happens and I’m deported, I would not go… Read More
Dreamer: ‘They Are Going to Throw Us Somewhere and Not Care’
For now, Sara Hamdi works the delivery counter at a Dayton, Ohio, Olive Garden. But the 27-year-old undocumented immigrant dreams of going back to school, studying business, and one day opening her own restaurant. “I’d like to bring some heart into this world, and I feel like food brings a… Read More
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