DailyGood

For the last 27 years, DailyGood newsletters have offered a daily email that inspires you to respond to life with creativity and kindness. To join a community of 149,073 subscribers, subscribe here.

Oct 11, 2009

"We cannot build our own future without helping others to build theirs." --Bill Clinton

Upwardly Global: Helping Immigrant Professionals

In Vietnam, Mai Le worked as a doctor, a low-paid but respected position requiring years of training. However since arriving in San Jose in 1999, she has worked as a census taker, one of the many immigrant professionals who find their experience and education do not count here. Although Le is determined to practice medicine again, she's less certain about how to sell herself in resumes and interviews. "In the U.S., you let people know you are good," said Le, 31, who moved to the United States in 1999 to join her father (a former political prisoner), mother, and five sisters. "It's different from my country. You don't talk about yourself." Le is learning how to succeed here with the help of Upwardly Global, a Sausalito nonprofit group that helps refugee and low-income immigrant women professionals rebuild their careers.