Today’s Founder Friday dives into Chau’s Asian Mom‘s career journey that profoundly impacted her. Despite going against her mom‘s advice against starting a business, Chau’s entrepreneurial path was shaped by her mom‘s determined spirit. Watch the full episode and let us know who made an impact in your life?
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My mom was very progressive for her time, and I say that because she was raised in Vietnam, in a little village where you're trained. With your mindset to become a housewife, right? She didn't think of herself as that way. She knew that she always had to have a career, that she needed to have something that she owned. So she wanted to be a tailor and of course her mom instantly said no, she's like no, when you're ready you're going to get married and that's that. She asked her father, who was always very supportive of her and said sure, but how are you going to pay for it? Mind you she has like 6-7 brothers and sisters, so there was no way they could afford to send her to sewing school, which at the time it's more like an apprenticeship, like you paying train and you go to someone's home and they teach you. So what she did instead is just saved a little bit of her lunch money every day until she had enough and then presented to her parents, who then couldn't say no. And she went and learned how to make Vietnamese dresses ao dai. And once she was done with that, she proceeded to want to make men's suit, which. Obviously was a big no no, because as a woman you're now measuring men and there's, you know, crotch level. Areas and that wasn't something they were comfortable with. But eventually she persuaded them and she was able to go. She even told me a funny story that her older brother went and. Like sat across the street from the the the apprenticeship that he went to a cafe to watch her every day for a week to make sure she was actually learning to be a tailor for men's suit. Because they thought they were trying, that she was trying to meet boys or things like that. And my mom knew and after a few days she came out to him and said, are you done? Like, I'm really here to learn. I'm not here for any boys. And so they they finally let her be. So I think knowing how much. Work and effort she took just to learn to have her own career. It was weird when we were in America, and I always told her I wanted to be an entrepreneur. She would discourage it. Not because she didn't want me to have my own ownership of things. She just knew how hard and difficult it was. And because it took us so long just to get where we're at, and for her to work so hard to provide for us, she wanted us to have a. An easier life, so to speak, but obviously. When that entrepreneurship bug kicks in, you can't really deny it. You gotta go with your heart and your passion, even if it takes a while to get there.
