Unlike some other women, Hang never felt comfortable relying on her husband for a livelihood. She had this independent mindset on the first day arriving in the US.

In a beautiful house in Boise, Idaho, Hang Palmer, 31, lives a happy life with her husband, David, and their two kids. 

Looking back 10 years ago, the young Vietnamese girl, with no certification and, poor English speaking capacity, suffered from humiliation before getting the dream job in an European export-import firm.

Now, she is even assigned to take care of important partners and clients of the company, despite being the only Asian staff in the firm.

Her daily work includes dealing with export, import and customs tax procedures, and several support services for 10 companies.

In the evening, she continues to work on her own business, importing Vietnamese handicrafts to the US, together with shipment services between Vietnam and the US.

Born in Trang Bom commune, Dong Nai province in the South of Vietnam, Hang has been a capable girl since she was little. As her parents were busy with work, she helped take care of all home affairs and chores.

Summer 2002 marked a turning point in her life when her grandmother who resided in the US went back home. An American man accompanied Hang’s grandmother, as she wanted to ‘match’ Hang with the man. However, Hang disliked him at first sight, as she was too young and did not care about getting married.

David, Hang’s husband, said he was interested in Vietnam, therefore he followed Hang’s grandmother on a tour in the country. During his short stay in the country, many local girls showed interest in him, but David was drawn to Hang, a very interesting girl in his eyes, who was skinny with tanned skin.

David could not take his eyes off Hang, and it irritated her a lot. She tried to stay away from him all the time.

“He stayed in my home for three weeks. I was very impolite and aloof to him. But despite my distant attitude, he kept being sweet and gentle to me.” Hang recalled.

One day the family brought David to Da Lat city. Because she disliked David so much, one day, Hang immediately left after the meal without minding the cold weather outside. David followed Hang to hand her his jacket. The caring gesture somehow touched Hang’s heart. She spent time to think twice.

When David came back to the US, Hang finally gave him a chance to get closer to her. In the following two years, the American guy kept sending his love to Vietnam via hand-written letters and phone calls. Being a romantic guy, he often surprised the girl he loved by including some Vietnamese phrases in his letter, or sang some love songs.

Two years later, David came back to propose to Hang and brought her to the US. She had just reached18 that year. The grandmother lived far from where David and Hang stayed, so Hang needed to deal with all the new things in the strange land on her own. In contrast to the excitement filling her mind on the day she left for the US, the feeling of missing home seemed to knock her down.

“In the first four years, I lived in depression, as I was not getting used to the food, and I missed and worried about my parents. In my head, I only thought that I had to come back to Vietnam. If it had not been the great love from my husband, I would have returned to my homeland.”

David worked in marketing department of an electronic company and was capable of raising his family and at the same time supporting his parents-in-law. However, as Hang was too determined to support her family in Vietnam on her own, he had no choice but just let her go to work.

Hang’s first job was as a cashier in a supermarket, but people looked down on her because of her broken English. While working for a restaurant, she was scolded and even insulted by her boss.

Securing a job in the US is very difficult, but Hang had no choice but to be tolerant.
In 2010, Hang applied for a job in a textile company, which paid her USD8/hour. In the beginning, things were really tough, as she did not know what to do.

Her Vietnamese peers kept looking down on her and said: “She surely will be fired within one week” or “God, look at how she sews.”

Three months later, the company announced its plan to recruit customer service staff. Hang was among the 16 applicants, and the other 15 were all seniors.

Her co-workers, once again, said things like: “You climb too high, you are an Asian, you know. How can you dare dream of getting promoted?”

 “When I entered the interview room, the management asked me: Please tell me why I should choose you, when you just worked here for three months. I looked straight into his eyes and said firmly: Because I want to take that position, and I believe that I will do it better than the others.”

Her confidence got her the job (photo: Hang's Facebook)

Surprisingly, she was selected for the position because of her confidence.

Four years later, the textile company closed down. Hang looked for new opportunities. She decided to learn how to do manicures, but she lacked interest in the job, and later left it, despite the relatively high pay.

At the same time, a European export-import firm was announcing its recruitment.

Initially, Hang was worried, as there were ten criteria for eligibility, and most important, she did not have any certification. Nevertheless, with the mindset “nothing to loose”, she confidently went for the interview, rubbing shoulders with 40 other candidates.

“I am kind a thick-skinned, no experience but still try to appear professional, speak confidently. I was overjoyed as they said they would choose me," she said.

Hang’s confidence and passion once again brought success to her. In early 2017, she even received an appreciation letter from her boss for making a record completing customs procedure for 31 shipments of goods to the US.

At the same time, Hang came up with the idea of importing Made-in-Vietnam products to the American market. She also ventured into domestic and transnational delivery.
According to Hang, in the time to come, she will focus more on importing Vietnamese organic coffee to sell to foreign companies.

As her capability was noticed, her responsibilities got bigger. Hang is now one of the key officers in the company. She recently received invitations from other firms in the same industry, promising to pay her more, but Hang still chose to stay, as she was grateful for what her boss had done for her.

David, 41, said, he was delighted to see his wife’s maturation, and is willing to shoulder all the family affairs to set her free to pursue her passion.

“She has built her career from scratch. My family, my friends all hats off to her. I do everything for her just to see her shining smile.”

Hang said she felt lucky. In over 10 years living together, her husband has always stood by her side, through thick and thin.

“He even searched for Vietnamese recipes to cook for me, in order to soothe my nostalgic feeling. He learns about Vietnamese culture and makes it part of our daily life. During traditional festive occasions, he buys decorative items by himself. He brings home nice Vietnamese movies DVDs and let me watch, let me feel like I am at home,” she said.

On her Facebook, Hang wrote: “Like an egg, if it waits to be smashed by the outside force, it surely will become a dish eaten by others. But if it can break its shell from the inside, that's revitalization, truly."

VNF/VNN