I have traditional Vietnamese-Asian parents ( Let’s call them FANNY MAE and FREDDIE MAC), who like most Asian parents, had highest hopes that I would be a DOCTOR. Much to their disappointment (and to my great relief), I did not become a doctor. I hated school, even though I got good grades (What can you say, I’m Asian.) and all I really wanted was the Doctor title (Dr. Jane?)…oh and the status and pay.
Soon after I started college, I realized that with all the work and school that doctors have to go through, I would be a lifetime student and wouldn’t get to enjoy any of the money I would be making. And who gives a shit about titles? I absolutely detested Biology and Chemistry so I changed my major within the first month of college to Engineering.
With medicine out the window, my parents were satisfied that I instead chose to pursue ENGINEERING. Mechanical engineering was my choice for lifetime enslavement because I sucked at English and writing, kicked ass in Math and I liked cars…still do.
While in college, skipping class was a norm for me, either because I was shooting pool, sleeping in or many times, it was because I took too long to figure out what to wear and would be SO LATE that I just ended up skipping the entire class.
Regardless, I graduated from the University with a BSME in 1998 during the great Clinton Era and had 5 job offers lined up. It was a great time to be looking for a job and companies were giving bonus offers left and right. I picked the company that gave me the biggest offer, JOHN DEERE.
Huge mistake! I was miserable (that’s what you get for going after money). And, it didn’t even have anything to do with cars! My ultimate goal was to travel internationally and JD wasn’t going to cut it. So, I took a pay cut and decided to take my chances with FORD MOTOR COMPANY, with the hopes that since it was a huge company, I would be able to travel internationally. I got my wish. Well kinda. I still had to start first in the armpit of America and automotive capital of the world…DETROIT.
After nine months in Detroit and a harsh, cold winter with -40F snowy weather, I moved to HIROSHIMA, JAPAN for 4 months. One of the BEST EXPERIENCES of my life!!! I love, love, love JAPAN! I worked hard but party hard too. Balance, yin yang, you know. After Japan, I was lucky enough to transfer to one of my favorites cities, TORONTO, ONTARIO for 9 months and work at the Ford F150 plant.
It was super nice because I have family in Toronto, including my favorite aunt, QUEEN LATIFA. Queen Latifa has a diverse group of friends and introduces me to everyone from shady Vietnamese gangsters to undercover cops to stocky Italian businessmen. Engineer by day and moonlighting with a totally different crowd by night.
Sadly, I was forced back to the MOTOR CITY of Detroit due to corporate logistics even though I had a project lined up in London, England. I wanted to continue traveling and avoid having to relocate back Detroit. This was my first hint that I was not in control of my fate…some corporate big wigs were.
But everything happens for a reason and seven months later, I become pregnant. At this point, Dick and I had been dating for about five years and we felt it was a good time to have a baby. I was stressing BIG TIME because Dick and I were living in two different cities and my car was a 2-seater MIATA Roadster! (You can just imagine the looks I got while taking advantage of the maternity parking spaces up front at the mall.)
Besides the car situation, I was living in Detroit at the time while Dick was living in our house in the GOTHAM CITY. Not wanting to give birth in either places, I really wanted to have the baby in METROPOLIS, where my parents were. Much to my parent’s dismay, we had done things a little backwards. We got pregnant before we got MARRIED. Gasp! A big no-no in our culture. Oh well.
Luckily, I get my wish again and we move back to Metropolis to have our first baby, THELMA. Fifteen months later we have our second “happy accident” - LOUISE. I’m sure Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac are just thrilled that I call them this. (I love you guys!)
So now I’m married to a Persian (only the best!) and have two wonderful Persian-Vietnamese happy accidents. Until I had kids, I was going to be this kick-ass engineer career woman but how my priortities changed. I wanted to be around to see my kids grow and we made a decision for me to give up my engineering career and try to make it without that additional salary.
Adjusting from career woman to stay-at-home mom was tough but Dick and I learned early on that although it wasn’t going to be easy, we didn’t want to be slaves to Corporate America and we wanted to live life on our OWN terms. It’s CHALLENGING, exciting, and has made me learn alot about myself as a person and my capabilities. We may not be Bill Gates rich but we have real happiness and live FREELY.
Currently, Dick and I have several business that require the work of probably ten people but, there’s just the two of us. Diversifying is our way of sustaining during this economic depression/recession. Have we officially labeled it that yet? We have rental properties that we invest in and manage, we have commercial properties, a lounge, a car business, my photography business, and occasionally, we even model/act.
Having multiple streams of income keeps us afloat and not reliant upon one thing to maintain our expenses. We do mostly everything ourselves and although it’s not always all fun and games, well, actually, mostly it is. We love what we do, we do it as a family, and we learn from every experience. Sometimes it is stressful, but what is joy without hardship?
More recently, we were elated to welcome our THIRD HAPPY ACCIDENT…our son Benz, who was born in the back seat of our car and delivered by my dear husband. Click HERE to read how he got his name. We opted for a natural child birth and BOY, did we get it! We just can’t do anything the NORMAL way.
THELMA and LOUSE are HOMESCHOOLED and they get to see and learn entrepreneurship first-hand by being a part of the many things we do to sustain our businesses and life. Homeschooling was not always my intent, in fact, I always said I could NEVER do it. But, without homeschooling, we would never be able to live life the way that we do and manage our businesses.
Homeschooling enables us to spend lots of time together as a family, travel, and take school on the road. Thelma and Louise are fluently tri-lingual in Vietnamese, Persian and English so I don’t worry about their learning capacity. They can outsmart a few adults I know.
Our lifestyle allows flexibility to maneuver in this crazy world that is life. We’re CRAZY busy, and maybe just CRAZY in general but I would not trade my life for anything. There’s no other better feeling than being empowered and in control of your own destiny. Welcome to our EXTRAORDINARY ORDINARY world.
