“If anybody was educated, if you could speak a different language, if you wore glasses, you were executed.”

Mey’s mom had to make herself ugly and unappealing so that she wouldn’t be a target of rape.

Children were taken away from their families, brainwashed and trained as soldiers to fight for the Khmer Rouge

Entire families were massacred and millions of people died from illness, execution and starvation. 

Mey takes us through her parents’ story of escape out of Cambodia and their journey to the US.

Today Mey is Managing Counsel of Employment & Labor at Toyota Motor North America, where she provides advice & counsel, works on strategic company initiatives, conducts training and manages litigation. She was named D Magazine’s Best Lawyers in employment law, Rising Star in Employment and Labor Law by Super Lawyers Magazine and made the Hot List of Lawyers of Color, Inc. You can get in touch with Mey HERE.

14 million people were displaced and 1 million people died during the Partition of India. Neena Newberry shares the story of her family’s history, a time of insane violence because of a religious partition line; the separation of India and what is known today as Pakistan. That was just one of the many  struggles her family has overcome before finding their way to freedom and peace. After her parents married and had children, Neena’s dad, who was highly educated, migrated (without his family) to England where he worked night shift at an ice cream factory. When the family was reunited, the suffering didn’t stop in England. Racial discrimination and ignorance affected their children in the form of bullying and physical violence. So, they picked up and moved to the US, where they had family connections and community. Such an inspirational story of courage and perseverance.

Today, Neena is the Founder of Newberry Executive Solutions where she coaches executives (VPs and higher) for some of the world’s best organizations. She is a twelve-time award-winning executive coach, speaker and author. A former Deloitte Consulting executive with over 25 years of business and leadership development experience, Neena excels at simple, proven solutions to achieve unprecedented business and career results. She launched Newberry Executive Solutions to pursue her passion for helping women be successful. Over 75% of her clients get promoted, and she gets rave reviews from Fortune 500 companies. Neena has been honored by the Dallas Business Journal, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Global Excellence Awards, among others, and has appeared in national media including Fortune, ABC, CBS, and Fox News.  She is the author ofShow Up. Step Up. Step Out. — written up by Southwest Airlines President Emeritus Colleen Barrett. She serves as an inaugural advisory board member of the TWU Institute for Women’s Leadership, chair of the Akola advisory board, and a member of the Texas Women’s Foundation Economic Council and the United Way Community Impact Committee. You can contact Neena HERE.

Carina Reyes is the middle child of 9 children. Her parents had successful careers in the Philippines while under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Even though she was from a upper middle class family, her parents feared that the conditions of the country would only become worse with this corrupt government. There would be no future if they didn't leave soon. Carina’s father during this time was also part of a political opposition group. Right before things took a turn for the worst and her father’s friends were captured or mysteriously disappeared, Carina’s dad made the difficult decision to leave the Philippines first to seek political asylum in the US. Two years later, he was reunited with the family in San Jose, California. Carina shares the story of how this family of 11 has emerged from poverty to prosperity. Today Carina leads a consulting practice and helps people transform their business into the digital world. She is on a mission to make sure other immigrants and refugees get the help they need to accelerate their lives out poverty and into a future they would be proud of. You can reach Carina on LinkedIn and hear more about her story here.

As a girl born last into a traditional Chinese family in the 1960s -- when boys were valued over girls and birth order often decided a child’s future in the culture -- Cynthia learned about the concept of inequity. She was fortunate. Her family moved to America when she was a year old, so she had access to education from kindergarten through college. The births of many girls like Cynthia, however, were viewed as burdens eliminated through adoption. Other girls who remained with their families were brought up to be wives or caregivers for their parents, while their male counterparts received education and resources.

Thoughts of these girls and other people who are devalued because of their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status or other personally defining characteristics, dismay and motivate Cynthia. She wants to change the world for them through her position and relationships. Today, she is the executive director of The Boone Family Foundation and uses a $5 million annual budget to support nonprofit organizations that advance equity for women and girls, improve the educational quality of life for children and promote environmental stewardship. Cynthia is also a Founding Member and Chair for the Orchard Giving Circle, whose mission is to increase awareness of the local Asian population, community needs and knowledge about philanthropy.

As a girl born last into a traditional Chinese family in the 1960s -- when boys were valued over girls and birth order often decided a child’s future in the culture -- she learned about the concept of inequity. Cynthia's family moved to America when she was a year old, so she had access to education from kindergarten through college. The births of many girls like her, however, were viewed as burdens eliminated through adoption. Other girls who remained with their families were brought up to be wives or caregivers for their parents, while their male counterparts received education and resources.

Thoughts of these girls and other people who are devalued because of their gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, economic status or other personally defining characteristics, dismay and motivate her. She is here to change the world for them through her position and relationships. Today, Cynthia is the executive director of The Boone Family Foundation and use a $5 million annual budget to support nonprofit organizations that advance equity for women and girls, improve the educational quality of life for children and promote environmental stewardship. She also is a founding member and chair of the Orchid Giving Circle, an organization whose mission is to increase awareness of the local Asian population, community needs and knowledge about philanthropy.

My dear friend Carmen Pei shares about the loss of her mom who suffered with depression and took her own life. This is not a topic she shares openly very often. I asked if she would be vulnerable and courageous to speak about how the aftermath of mental illness has affected her life growing up in the hopes of helping someone else who feels alone, scared, ashamed, lonely, unworthy ... know that the answer doesn't have to be you ending your life. Thank you sweet Carmen for talking so openly about your mom, your journey and I am so proud of you, strong soul.

Today, Carmen and her husband Jon own a chain of boba tea stores in Texas called Fruitealicious.

If you go to their website and read the first few lines, you'll understand why people are in love, with the drinks, their mission and of course the people.

Senator Tina Maharath shares about the physical abuse by the hands of her father, what life was like without her mom and two brothers after they were killed in a car accident and living with depression. It has not been an easy journey for her. When she ran for office, the odds were stacked against her, this Laotian American girl, the daughter of refugees, won the hearts of the people. Today, Senator Maharath is the first Asian-American state senator in Ohio, and the first Asian-American woman in the General Assembly. She is a force to be reckoned with and her story will both break your heart and make you smile. It's one of those narratives that you won't forget.

Grace Koo’s family story is a fascinating one. Grace’s great grandfather was a martyr. He was killed for trying to set up a Southern Baptist church in Korea. Her family fled to Manchuria to avoid persecution of their religious beliefs. Grace shares about how her family was sponsored over to the US and her life growing up here - one of constant struggle; trying to figure out where she fit in. After dropping out of pharmacy school, she moved to Seoul, Korea where she trained as a pastry chef in several Michelin Star restaurants, truly following her passion as a creative and now living her best life. Today, Grace is the owner and chef of 9 Rabbits Bakery in Dallas Texas, named by Big D magazine as the Best Sweets Shops in 2018. I can’t wait for you to meet her!

Mary Ann Thompson Frenk is the daughter of the former 7-11 Corporation founders. She was born in Mexico, adopted by these amazing people. She is one of the most humble, genuine, passionate and giving people I have encountered. I strongly feel like it is important for people to be aware of this. Why? Because while her history is intriguing, she has created her own legacy - one I wouldn’t be able to match, not in this lifetime! Mary Ann shares with us about her family’s history and their unexpected tension and problems with the KKK, growing up adopted from Mexico, and how humanitarianism has just been a part of her life as a child. While there is much more to this story, she has taken these values her family has taught her and  continues to live and create a life full of purpose. Mary Ann is literally on a mission to change this world.

Today,  Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk is a humanitarian, conscious-capitalist, published writer, internationally award winning sculptor, (recognized by the Buckminster Fuller Institute for being the first artist to innovate on geodesics to create the human figure), human rights/environmental activist, social-responsible investor (including Women That Soar and multiple eco-conscious startups) and frequently requested international speaker. She has spoken at and moderated forums around the globe including for NEXUS at the United Nations and White House, Parliament of World Religions, TEDx, The Club of Budapest, the Cordoba Initiative, The Temenos Academy of Integral Studies and was the keynote speaker for 64th World Congress of Women Entrepreneurs in November 2016. She serves as President and co-founder of The John Philp Thompson Foundation and as President for The Memnosyne Institute, an international non-profit she co-founded with her husband, Joshua. Through it, they have supported programs around the world focused on empowering humanity to address the challenges of an increasingly interconnected world - leading them both to be identified by three-time-nominated-Nobel- Peace-Prize Dr. Ervin Laszlo as two of the “21st Century Visionary Thinkers” leading innovative humanitarianism for their “social acupuncture” model. 

She has been published in various magazines including The Transpersonal Psychology Association's “The Transcender", YPO's Real Leaders Magazine which recognized her as a “Real Young Leader to watch on the international scene, contributed chapters to various books including “Dawn of The Akashic Age: New Consciousness, Quantum Resonance, and The Future of The World” by Dennis Kingsley and Ervin Laszlo, “Developing A Global Agenda: Expert Insight from the inaugural STEP Global Congress” collected by STEP, “Sparks of Genius: Powerful Sparks of Creative Insight from 100+ Global Thought Leaders” collected by Julie Ann Turner, and most recently contributed the USA portion of Mirela Sula’s newest book titled, "50 Inspiring Voices of Migrant Women" addressing the current human rights challenges of immigrant women in the USA, serves as the editor for “Empower” Journal, and has been on the cover of other publications including London’s “Global Woman”, “Mujer USA”, “Femme International”, Argentina’s “Revista La Auténtica”, Belgium’s “Business Fit Magzine”, and “Forbes Mexico”. 

She has received numerous awards for her humanitarian work. Most recently, in 2018 she was Awarded the Inspirique Award at Harvard University and presented the Civic Pioneer Award at the United Nations in November which is one of the highest awards a female citizen of the USA can receive and is entered into the congressional record. She is currently working towards setting up “Memnosyne Mexico” in an effort to further the reach of The Memnosyne Institute’s humanitarian work and empower communities in Mexico, pursuing ordination as an interfaith minister and her most recent regional goals include continuing The Memnosyne Institute’s GreenSourceDFW and FoodSourceDFW initiatives, working with Rev. William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign, hoping to establish Eco-Eco, a B-corp, with her collaborating partner, Tania Arrayales Rodriguez, aimed at creating economically feasible ecologically responsible homes for the lower tax bracket within the state of Texas and launching the Memnosyne Institute’s Campus for Humanity in Dallas, Texas starting with it’s Center for Outreach designed by architect Keith Critchlow. 

"Our Vietnamese names were butchered before we arrived in America. “Tram Nguyen” looked like a fragmented sentence to me on our refugee paperwork. Cutting out half of my name was like truncating my identity and mutilating what remained. Trâm quickly degraded to Tramp or Tram (the mode of transportation). In English-speakers’ struggle to say my name – Trum[p]? Tram[p]? – and my struggle to explain, I settled on “Can you say trombone? It’s kinda like that: Trom.” And I learned to live with an unrecognizable caricature of a name.

Nguyen was especially challenging. N-gu-yen. Nu-gen. N-guy-en. What? You can say “Win”. Win? Yes, that’s good enough."

(The Fob Blog Written by Angelina Tram Nguyen)

After I read the first few paragraphs of Angelina's new blog, I wanted to hear about her experiences and her perspective as a first generation refugee. Sometimes it's uncomfortable to hear the truth, and Angelina certainly doesn't hold back. You can subscribe to her blog at The Fob Blog

I think that there's plenty to learn from each other no matter how culturally sensitive we all think we are!