

How Tippi Hedren made Vietnamese refugees into nail salon magnates - anigbrowl
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32544343

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lordnacho
When my parents left Vietnam, it seems their whole generation took to opening
fast food places. My parents and my uncle are still doing it. There's only a
few things to do if you're alone in a new country where you don't speak the
language, and once one of the new arrivals figures out a business, they tend
to tell all their friends.

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gcb0
<quote>Those 20 women - mainly the wives of high-ranking military officers and
at least one woman who worked in military intelligence - went on to transform
the industry, which is now worth about $8bn (£5.2bn) and is dominated by
Vietnamese Americans.</quote>

interesting, so the ones in power managed to get back to power, in a way.

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ptaipale
Though they had lost all power at the time when they picked this career. So
they did not get the new position of wealth through any existing position
power, but through hard work and confidence in themselves (and luck, of
course).

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spython
They've been in the position of power before and had experienced that it is
possible to take control of your life. I guess a psychological problem in long
term refugees as well as poverty is not believing that you can take control of
your life - since it was take from you before.

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ptaipale
True enough. Sometimes people have no physical (financial) capital, but mental
capital.

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vishaldpatel
Did not expect to have my mind blown this late on a Saturday night. Talk about
an amazing example of "teach a man how to fish".

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Aloha
Seconded, I'd always wondered how the vietnamese and Cambodians came to
dominate the nail and hair cutting business on the west coast, now I know.

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freshyill
I was house hunting a few years ago, and toured a house listed by an
independent agent with a Vietnamese name. In storage, in the garage was about
20 or so tables from a nail salon.

Amazing how they not only came to dominate the industry, but they essentially
built it.

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marcusgarvey
Would love to see more stories like this. For example, how did Koreans come to
dominate the black haircare industry?

Also wish the nail industry was healthier for these women to work in. It still
seems to be a place where a lot of newly landed Asian immigrants find work and
I wonder about the long-term health effects of working with those fumes. I
knew a manicurist who suffered miscarriage after miscarriage -- surely the
toxicity of the nail shop she owned may have had something to do with it. I
have also heard, from someone who works at Sephora's corporate office, that
nail polish is so flammable it is not allowed to be shipped by air. Harsh
chems.

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caycep
I have to say, I don't know a huge amount about Vietnamese culture, but I
would say it is one of the least patriarchal/most matriarchal Asian societies.

Case in point, in relevance to HN: I knew someone who was sourcing electronic
parts from there. Japanese companies have set up their "outsourced"
manufacturing there, with electronics plants meeting some ISO standards, etc.
There is a heavy female:male predominance at many of these plants.

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anigbrowl
My in-laws are Vietnamese. this is an astute observation; Vietnam has a
tradition of prominent female military leaders going back millenia. For
example, the Trung sisters are considered national heroes for their resistance
to (patriarchal) Confucian rule by the Chinese, resulting in their becoming
joint queens of Vietnam for several years, though they eventually suffered
military defeat.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C6%B0ng_Sisters](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tr%C6%B0ng_Sisters)

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miraj
Refugees & IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons) are some of the most
resourceful & inventive people around - mostly by necessity. They've nothing
else to loose; & can make the best from a (often bleak) situation - espcially
if given the tiniest of hope & opportunities. Long time ago I worked with/for
some refugee groups, & have seen the remarkable resiliency & spirit first-
hand.

