I think it's wonderful that Ironman extends his welcome to other SEA groups. I just want to use this opportunity to get our filipino members to be more familiar with the Vietnamese refugee experience. Now, there are VNmese immigrants, more recent ones, maybe within the past 15 years or so who come from rich families, some aren't but most are communist connected. They are here like most asian immigrants: on student visa or work visa.
In contrast, the earlier waves were very different. These people either came after the fall of Saigon in 1975, boat people later in the 70's the-80's and some in the 90's. They were communist refugees, either come on boats or through family reunification program. Our experience are very different from the rest of the asian immigrants.
A small window into a refugee experience that came to my mind recently was Michelle Phan. Many of us see her success as a result of catering to frivolous online interests henceforth the person that do those things are also superficial and frivolous but a look into her background upholds the adage "don't judge a book by its cover".
There are so many stories like this in our community that outsiders are completely unaware of. That is because you see us as we are now, successful, educated, and have all the material strappings that the rest of the Asian immigrants. However unlike asian immigrants who come here by choice, for better economic opportunities, we came for freedom.
The intimate story of how a struggling waitress named Michelle Phan nabbed 4.5 million YouTube followers and a major makeup deal. As told to Geraldine Campbell.
Seven years ago, in my first semester at college, the professors handed out MacBook Pros. With mine I filmed a seven-minute tutorial on "natural makeup"—just me, my laptop, and a cup of coffee. When, a week later, it clocked 40,000 Web views, I knew people were connecting with it, so I kept going. That moment changed my life.
At the time, I was keeping a personal blog in which I depicted myself as the girl I wanted to be, with money and a great family. But it was all a veneer. In reality my life was hard, and I was struggling with insecurities I'd had for years.
You wouldn't exactly call my childhood stable. When I was growing up, my father constantly gambled away our rent money. Every few months we'd get evicted and move. My brother and I never had the same beds for long, or even the same tree outside to swing on. Then one night after a big loss, my father just disappeared. It was more than 10 years before I saw him again.
After he left, my mother was heartbroken. But she remarried, and our relationship with my stepdad was good... at first. They had a daughter, my little half-sister, Christine. But bit by bit he became very controlling of my mother. Eventually, the four of us moved out, and at age 17, I started working as a hostess to supplement my mom's income as a nail technician in a salon. We could barely pay rent, and we had no furniture; I slept on the floor, my clothes in a basket beside me. We couldn't afford dressers.
My disjointed upbringing took its toll. I never made friends at school; in Florida I was one of the few Asian kids, and I always got made fun of because I was different. To cope I holed up in my room, drawing superheroes and reading. In one sketch I created a magical version of myself that had the superpower to save my family from our situation.
Art was my escape, so when I was accepted at Ringling College of Art and Design in Florida, I prayed we'd find the $12,000 for tuition. My aunts and uncles had pooled together money to buy us furniture, but my mom used it to pay for my first semester instead. I promised her I would find a way to take care of the family. I just never imagined it would be through YouTube.
The makeup tutorials were a fun hobby at first. I'd play different characters or try new emotions—a bold lip or dark brows to look strong, or sweet pink hues for church. And I was resourceful I stocked up on lipsticks and liners from drugstore 75-cent sale bins.
As my YouTube following grew, I was soon earning as much from advertising revenue as from waiting tables, so I quit my job. My boss thought I was crazy, which just made me more determined. In 2012, four years and 200 videos later, my channel was so successful that Google offered me $1 million to create 20 hours of content. It was an incredible opportunity Out of all the online beauty experts, they had picked me, the person who filmed in her bedroom!
But my real Cinderella moment came when L'Oréal gave me my own makeup line to launch this year. I was already making videos for Lancôme, another L'Oréal brand, so when they first called, I thought I was being fired. As soon as I registered what was really happening, I called my mom, who was giving someone a pedicure. "Today is the last day you're doing that," I said. "I don't want you to go to work tomorrow." As I told her about the project, we sobbed together uncontrollably.
