I’ve known Annie and have been working with her when there were only a handful of ladies who knew of Hmong Women Today. It was the beginning of a vision and it’s been an amazing journey seeing how far we’ve come as an organization and how wide we’ve spread, touching lives along the way.

About myself, my first passion will always be my family. Like many young Hmong women, I got married at a very young age. I was 14. I remember as a child, my mom would lecture me daily about being a nyab qhuag (dutiful daughter in law) and though my childhood dream was to grow up and become an astronaut, the conditioning of how I was brought up led me to believe that if you’re not married by 18, you’re considered an old maid. So with that in mind, I ran away from home at 14 to married my childhood friend who I’ve known since I was 4 instead of marrying the person my parents had chosen and arranged for me. By the time I graduated from high school, I was already a mother of 3 daughters and college was out of the question. I decided to devote my time to providing for my family and joined the workforce instead. Here’s where my second passion comes in. Growing up, I’ve always been the kid who would take things apart, just to see how they work and put them back together again. I was always curious and had a love for science and technology. I spent many hours messing around with hardware and software, and dabbled in programming languages. Straight out of high school, after a series of test, I landed my first technical job as an IT Tech for IBM. Technology had always made sense to me and I was a fast learner. I was quickly promoted to IT Specialist. I established my first company at 22 and provided technology management consultations and solutions to small businesses, restaurants and hotel chains. My third passion was to help others grow through their own aspiration, so in 2001, I established the first non-profit and networking organization to help Hmong in the technology industry. The organization was built virtually online and the mission was to connect professionals with entry levels or those who were looking into the field of technology, science and engineering to help them develop a career/education plan/ladder in their desire field of interest. The functionality of the site was much like LinkeIn, in that it featured members’ professional profile, technical skills and experiences with the ability to make connections with them, to either be a mentor or be mentored. The launch of the organization was very successful. Within the first week of its launch, due to an excellent marketing plan, we had over 200 member registrations. In our first year, we were able to raise enough funds to award scholarships in the amount of $1,500 each to 5 Hmong students studying in the field of technology, science and engineering.

As a woman, especially a Hmong woman, we’ve always heard of the glass ceiling, but I’m glad that from a young child, my dad taught me a glass ceiling is only glass, therefore it is breakable. With my dad’s encouragement, I finally started college at age 23 for my B.S degree in Information System Technology and just a few years ago completed my MBA. Throughout my career, I’ve had the fortune of working on multiple exciting and first of its kind projects, including a green energy project with NASA (back to my dream of being an astronaut). I helped developed 3 start-up companies (apart from my own). One of them being an international airline, and I can tell you that being on the board and starting an airline company is one of the hardest (if not the hardest) company to start because they are capital-intensive and competition is fierce, adding on top of that, compliance and regulations…but, it was one of the most rewarding venture I’ve ever had the fortune of being a part of.

Today, I have 4 children. My 3 daughters are now age 19 and 17 (twins), and 7 years ago my husband and I welcomed our youngest and only son. We have now been married for 22 years and still growing strong. I know that many of us come from different backgrounds. Some of us either got married young, or is in a field/life that we are not entirely satisfied with. But I learned that no matter what path you may have chosen, or how far you’ve come…at any moment, you can make a decision for yourself and believe that you can do ANYTHING you put your mind to as long as that flame within you still burns (your authentic-self), you cannot ignore it. This is one of the reasons why I am passionate about Hmong Women Today. I may never understand the challenges my mother and grandmother went through as a woman of their time, but I can appreciate the things they’ve done to make me the Hmong woman I am with the opportunities and possibilities available to us today.

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going
- Jim Rohn

My name is Choo Vang and I am a health consultant. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, I pursued my study in psychology wanting to become a psychiatrist. Growing up in a Hmong traditional family, verbal and positive praises were not very accustomed to our family. As a child, I didn’t know or have direction to make sense of the ups and down of life. I remembered feeling so lost and stuck in my own ways for so many years. I was scared to ask for help and I only saw a world full of fear and negativity! This was the reason why I thought about becoming a psychiatrist, so I could help kids, who needed a helping hand like I did.

Rosanna Vue is from Minneapolis, MN. Rosanna works in the legal field and has experience with employment discrimination and criminal defense. She currently works as a Paralegal for a Criminal Defense Firm. Rosanna’s true passion is helping women and children strive for their dreams. She believes that supporting and encouraging others to step outside of the cultural norms, they can truly grow and be an inspiration for future generations. Rosanna hopes to be a catalyst for Women to be who they are and not have any shame no matter what journey they choose to take.

Like many of us, Pang Foua Xiong, is a Hmong woman who wears many hats. She is an expert in mastering each role that she holds as a mother, daughter, sister, mentor, friend and entrepreneur/professional. She has mastered becoming the eye of the storm in each one of her many roles. How does she do it? Could it be the people she surrounds herself with? Or the positive mind set she has towards obstacles in her path that keeps her going? Life can get complicated and she has the same struggles that we all may encounter at one point in our life. Through the rock-bottom times, she has become more appreciative of people and experiences. She has become a stronger person with a burning passion to live a more purpose ‘FULL’ life.

Pang Foua was born and raise in Saint Paul, Minnesota where she currently resides with her husband and 5 children(ages 1-12). She has 2 brothers and 1 sister and is the second oldest in her family of entrepreneurs.

Pang Foua previously served as a Patient Service Supervisor for several years with the Community University Health Care Center- University Of Minnesota Academic Health Center. In her role she served the community and patients with providing access to health care services and advocates. And resolved conflicts and processes to improve patient care. As a leader to her patient service staff, she took awareness and initiative to give positive encouragement to staff so that they too can become aware of their own leadership skills and to see the positive outcomes of their service to the community.

Community University Health Care Center was her second home. She dedicated 11 years of service to the clinic in many other roles before graduating into a leadership role. She had many mentors in her environment where she intentionally surrounded herself with. Those mentors ranged form them being patients, colleagues, and leaders who inspired and helped her hone her skills and knowledge that highlight her strengths and potential.

In her most recent venture, she is living the life of an entrepreneur and sharing her time with her family and the community. She has had a passion for beauty and fashion most of her life. She is a beauty therapist who specializes in lash artistry. She currently owns LashesByPang based on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul. Since age 16, she was an aspiring model and talent. She is currently working with a local model and talent agent, in which she was booked for a couple major commercial projects. She also volunteers her time to help aspiring musician promote their music and emcee at local hip hop events.

Her hunger for personal and spiritual growth started with a good friend, who gave her a book written by a well known author-Dale Carnegie in 2007; And another friend who gave her courage to BELIEVE. She took gradual steps towards developing her character and skills to become who she is today. She is currently involving herself with activities towards becoming an amazing transformational coach and mentor. Her hunger to become a transformational coach became even more real after learning about her mother’s dreams as a growing adult and sufferings during the Vietnam War.

She believes that ordinary people can do extraordinary things and have extraordinary experiences when there is belief and courage. She dedicates her time to help others become conscious and aware of their true ability. “I’m so blessed and grateful to have the opportunity to be a part of an uplifting experience in another person’s life.”