Episode Notes

Priscilla Vang is part of the largest ethnic group in the country who fled from Laos and settled in Minnesota after the Vietnam war ended in 1975; 66,000 Hmong now live in Minnesota. This is Priscilla’s miraculous journey from being a refugee at 2 ½ years old to becoming a United States Citizen and multi-venture entrepreneur.

Thirteen years of corporate accounting and tax preparation and two degrees in financial accounting and tax accountancy prepared Priscilla to assert her American dream of business ownership. I met Priscilla in 2018 when she joined one of my WeMentor Entrepreneurial Leadership and Mentoring LABs.

At the time, Priscilla was two years into running three connected but different ventures she started in 2016. An accounting and tax practice, a payroll processing business, and a staffing firm that educates and assists small business owners in running profitable businesses and reaching their financial aspirations.

That is where she is today. To understand Priscilla and appreciate where the seeds of entrepreneurial leadership were planted, we start with her paternal grandmother in Laos. 

Priscilla’s Origin

Laos is located in the highlands, where a population of 300,000 to 400,000 Hmong lived in small villages. The population gap represents the discrepancy amongst researchers due to insufficient documentation. Babies in the highlands were born at home with midwives and home remedies. “Many of their birthdates were not recorded anywhere,” says Priscilla.

Hmong farmers harvested enough crops to be self-sufficient on the land they owned. Opium was the cash crop that sustained them and put their lives in danger. Priscilla speaks of her grandfather’s murder and how her paternal grandmother raised a half dozen children under 10 years old during the Vietnam war. In 1979, she safely crossed the Mekong River to a refugee camp in Thailand with her family.

Historical Perspective. The U.S. recruited the Hmong population to fight off communism in the 1960s, known as ‘the secret war’ in Laos. The Vietnam war ended in 1975 when Laos was overtaken by communism, and 150,000 people, including tiny Priscilla with her parents, aunts, uncles, and paternal grandmother, escaped to refugee camps in Thailand and other places.

 Priscilla’s maternal grandparents also fled with their family by crossing the Mekong River in boats. (The Mekong River is about 2,700 miles in length; the world’s 12^th largest river and the third-longest river in China). Priscilla generally discusses the dangers Hmong refugees encountered and the role opium played in getting infants across the river safely.                       

Roughly half the population fled and resettled in the United States. Today, over 200,000 of this ethnic minority group have resettled; 90% live in the United States. Priscilla’s parents and extended family members arrived in Charlottesville, N.C., in August of 1979.  

Settling in the United States and Becoming the Family Interpreter 

Cassette tapes sent through snail mail provided communication between Hmong families in the United States and those still in Laos, Vietnam, and China at that time. Priscilla (at age 2 ½) and her parents first lived in Greensboro, North Carolina, and then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The best opportunities for her parents were found in 1987 when they moved to St. Paul, leasing farmland and selling vegetables at the Farmer’s Market in Minneapolis. Her well-regarded parents still live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Priscilla is the 2nd eldest of her six siblings and explains how she led her family through the naturalization process in 1987. Like most child immigrants with non-English speaking parents, Priscilla, at age 9, became the family interpreter.

Imagine the pressure she must have felt making sure the landlord got paid, filling out the proper paperwork for them all to become United States Citizens, and spending summers harvesting fruits and vegetables with her siblings. Everyone was involved in providing for the family.

Roger Vue came into Priscilla’s life in her teenage years and married 25 years ago. They have one son. He and his wife are expecting their fourth child in July. Priscilla enjoys being an involved grandparent.

Priscilla learned how to take charge and become an interdependent woman recognizing the need to work together to achieve common goals. Her paternal grandmother and parents taught her how to take risks to protect and nurture her family and continue providing guidance for the next generation of American Hmong families. Priscilla’s paternal grandmother passed away in 2007.

I have boundless admiration for Priscilla and feel a deep affection for the unspoken hardships she braves every day. Every immigrant knows what I mean. Priscilla explains some of those hardships through her effervescence, positivity, and leadership insights. She views language barriers, generational and cultural issues, and all challenges in life as opportunities to understand, learn, and grow. Curiosity, prosperity thinking, and gratitude foster her resilience and enrich our conversation. Hear Priscilla’s journey from refugee to U.S. Citizen to multi-venture entrepreneur.

DOWNLOAD

NEXT STEP: Challenge yourself and do the Conscious Attentive Leadership Mentoring (C.A.L.M.) Activities, below.