Succeeding in business has never really happened without trying, and that is especially true for women coming to America from other countries.
The Bureau of International Labor Affairs division of the U.S. Department of Labor reports that 4.6 million foreign-born women were employed in this country as of March, 1994, the latest figures available. That is nearly half, or 48 percent, of the total number of 10.5 million foreign-born females, of all ages in this country.
In the service industry, 1.4 million foreign-born women were employed in 1994, while the largest percentage, or more than 31 percent, of foreign-born working women were employed in technical, sales and administrative support jobs.
The statistics do not directly reveal another reality in the workplace: Women who had been high-status professionals — professors, lawyers, psychologists, doctors — in their native lands often work here as secretaries, baby-sitters, sales people and manicurists. Many are thwarted by language barriers and an inability to transfer specific skills to the American labor market.
Yet there are legions of success stories, especially among the ranks of entrepreneurs.
Bindu Shroff, a native of India, came to the Women’s Business Development Center in Chicago in 1989 for help in starting her own business, 18 years after she immigrated to the United States. For the past six years, Shroff has owned and operated Copies Now, a downtown printing and copying shop, a venture she calls a success.
Having spoken English since the age of 5, Shroff also earned a master’s degree in chemistry from Central Michigan University and has traveled in many countries, giving her a broad frame of reference.
“We give these women the impetus and support both emotionally and informationally for starting their own businesses,” says Christine Kowalki, associate director of the development center, which serves more than 2,000 women a year, many of whom have immigrated here.
Sommala Vilaysane, 32, came to America from Laos in 1979 as a 14-year-old with her mother and five brothers and sisters. Now she is financial officer of the Chicago Foundation for Women.
“Comparing myself to other Laotian women, I have a good job,” she says. “In Laos, being a woman, you are always . . . a follower and speak when someone speaks to you and you can’t voice your opinions.”
Vilaysane says working at the foundation for the past five years has required a cultural balancing act. “I am not quite American or Laotian,” says Vilaysane. “I have to work extra hard to prove to myself that I can do this job.”
When she was 16 years old, Fakhra Khan came to the United States from Islamabad, Pakistan, for a marriage arranged by her parents. Twenty-one years later she is remarried to a mate of her own choosing and is owner and president of Fakhra Khan Travel, with two offices in Chicago.
“Some people think a foreign-born person knows more about international travel,” says Khan, whose 3-year-old business has gross annual sales near $1 million.
Khan says not being an American native can make it difficult to connect with potential clients. “I don’t have the rapport in a sales context,” she says. “I can’t say I went to such a school or lived in such a neighborhood. I need to establish rapport in a different way,” using discussion of current events and industry news to foster relationships.
Argentine Marta Bukata finished law school with two small children at home and started her own legal practice. In this country since 1972, Bukata is now the deputy director of the four offices of the Chicago Legal Clinic and the founder of its program assisting victims of domestic violence.
“I love what I’m doing, and I’m extremely enthusiastic,” says Bukata. “This is the country of opportunity, and it depends on how much you want to accomplish.
“Moving to a new country, you have to make it,” adds Bukata, who was a professor of English in Argentina before coming to the United States when she was 24. “We foreign-born people have an incredible advantage because we can get whatever we want and accomplish anything because we acknowledge the advantages in this country.”
