Why Children of Immigrants Work so Hard | Colleen Bies | TEDxOshkosh
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Published 2019-11-07
Colleen and her siblings, including four lost before her family’s immigration, are first generation Hmong in the United States. After her father’s nine years of military service for the US side during the Vietnam war, her family was forced to flee Laos to save their lives. Upon reaching Thailand after trekking for weeks through dense jungle, Colleen’s family made the decision to immigrate to the United States.
Her parents knew the US could offer better and more prosperous lives for them and their children. While as a young person Colleen was embarrassed by her mother’s innovative creation of small businesses rather than a "typical" nine to five job, today, as an entrepreneur herself, she couldn't be more proud of her mother blazing her own path despite knowing very little English. Colleen hopes to inspire people to innovate, create, and take control of their lives. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
All Comments (20)
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Failure is not an option for us.
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I can relate to this soo much, my parents are immigrants. I am first generation and trying to find my place here and what I like. I feel pressured bc I know my parents have sacrificed a lot for me and my siblings to have a the life that we have now. My ultimate goal is to retire my parents in a couple years.
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As an immigrant myself I can relate to it. There is so much opportunities and climbing the ladder have cost me even being discriminated many times because some people are just jealous of the success of others specially those who come from a different country. But I don't care I just keep moving forward with hard work no matter what. I sometimes see people complaining about their lives but I just tell myself how easy they have it but they just can't see it because they were born with those privileges.
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It depends on where your parents come from. I have a friend whose parents are from Iceland. He's a straight up slacker. I'm not judging. He admits it. I'm using his example to make my point. Nobody tells blonde blue-eyed Icelandic people to go home.
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Necessity driven individuals: “are those who have a why and bare any how.” As Nietzsche puts it. find your why and live with a purpose.
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Thank you for sharing your story . It takes a lot of bravery and insight to do as you did . People who speak from their privileged corners may lack the empathy and intelligence to digest it but from someone who also had the lived experience : thank you for this video !
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Thank you for this. This was very inspiring and too close to home for me as I am a child of immigrants from Vietnam. All the love and thanks for sharing your story.
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Thank you so much Colleen! This was a very touching video... You're such an inspiration!
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Thanks for reminding me -- The "Immigrant Mindset"!!!
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Failure doesn't have to be an option.
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Completely different mindset than American children
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Lol they don't. They think they do but then there are international students who clearly take the competition to next level as they're more on the side of 'survival mode' as they plan not to go back to their country and have responsibilities like getting PR, making friends, cultural shock, loneliness, financial problems due to conversion rate (eg. India to the USA or Canada or UK!). The list is endless as they're really far away from their hometown. In cases like COVID international students are stuck and cannot even travel back to their families even in situations like someone's death
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Hmong people are refugees. Not immigrants.
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Yeah. America is about to put an end to all that. 🤣🤣
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This video is not true because I’m a child of immigrants and I don’t work hard I’m too lazy.
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She wrote this whole speech because her kid is trying to quit oboe lessons
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Immigrant parents have a short-term desperation because they are financially uncomfortable. This speaker is deluded if she thinks that children raised in 1st world comfort and different conditions will be the same
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passionless speech
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Wow this is so not true. Most people that are kids of immigrants work much less. I hate these videos where one persons experience leads them to make blanket statements.
