Asian Fortune Your source for all things Asian American
By Catalina Calachan
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rosemary Tran Lauer exemplifies the tenacity and courage that permeate the immigrant community. Born and raised in Vietnam, she journeyed to America in the midst of the Vietnam War. Her transition was not easy, as she came to the United States with two young children and no one to help her look after them. A single mother forced to adapt to
a foreign country, she worked hard to somehow make it her home. She worked the various jobs she could get without a college degree, so that she could support herself and her children. When she had enough money, she went to school and received a cosmetology degree, which led to her experience as a businessperson and owner of a few beauty salons.
Though she had success in the beauty industry, she changed careers after her battle with breast cancer. Turning to real estate, she learned rapidly and took joy in helping people make a home in the community where she had done the same years ago. She has been a “top producer” for Long and Foster Real Estate for the past 13 years, and leads Lauer Group, which is a team of realtors comprised of Tran Lauer and three others. The team sells commercial and residential real estate and uses cross-cultural understanding as a basis for their work in the community.
Building from that, she founded Devotion to Children in 1994. Today she serves as the President, and Devotion to Children continues to play an important role in combatting cyclical poverty within Northern Virginia, where Fairfax County, one of the richest counties in America, has a two year waiting list for a two-year old to get subsidized, quality childcare. In the October press release of Tran Lauer’s winning of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Good Neighbor Award of 2014, she says, “Devotion to Children has helped over 3,000 children through various forms of services,” from children’s libraries to childcare scholarships.
Tran Lauer has taken the hardships she endured throughout her first years in America, and has drawn from them so that she can better inform people of the struggles that immigrants and single parents face. With her memoir Beggars or Angels out now and Devotion to Children actively engaging in the local community, Tran Lauer shows no signs of slowing down in her pursuit for awareness and change. She hopes that someday her mission for healthy, quality, and affordable childcare takes root in other communities across America and, eventually, across the world.
I caught up with Rosemary Tran Lauer and asked her to share some of her experiences and insights. She exudes a confidence in herself and a passion for her cause that is altogether comforting and inspirational. Speaking with her about social justice, the need for cross-cultural understanding, and the importance of being proactive in the issues that matter, over dinner at Pho Thang Long in Fairfax, VA, it was clear that Tran Lauer had learned invaluable lessons from her immigrant experience; it was both a privilege and a pleasure.
CC: Your journey to America was paved with trails and hardships, but you were able to overcome those odds for yourself and your children. What advice would you give to single- mother immigrants who may be facing similar struggles to what you went through in the late 1970s?
RTL: My advice to them is to try to learn as much as you can. Education is extremely important. Many immigrant women don’t have the language, and there are many things to learn, but the first thing is to learn the language. It’s critical.
CC: Nowadays, immigration is a hot topic in politics, but individual experiences can often be dehumanized when the issues pass through the political system. Tell me more about what you hoped to highlight in your memoir Beggars or Angels.
RTL: I want people to understand that immigrants are not liabilities. We are assets. And helping people so they can help themselves is not a bad thing.
CC: You came to America in 1975, when the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam – the Viet Cong – took control of Saigon. Looking back on that experience, can you share your thoughts about witnessing the historic Fall of Saigon?
RTL: I hate war. Nothing good comes from war. To grow up in a war-torn country is never a good thing. To see your friend blow up in front of you is not a good thing – it’s traumatizing. For that reason, I concentrate on how to rebuild life – how to help children – because if we teach young children, hopefully when they grow up they never want to have war. Teach them love instead of teaching them hate. Teach them peace instead of teaching them war. There is enough challenge in life, so we should put our resources together and build this earth.
CC: The Asian American/Pacific Islander community is largely unrepresented in many facets of American society, or given little consideration beyond “model minority” stereotypes in the media, which makes AAPI history in this country almost invisible or unheard. Having come to the U.S. in 1975, can you speak to the racial context you found yourself in, as an Asian American woman in the DC/MD/VA area?
RTL: It’s not easy, because people don’t know the culture. What is right in one culture can be wrong in the other, and people are afraid of what they don’t know. So, sometimes they mistreat people and assume that people are stupid or bad. I do believe that to make the world a better place, learning about different cultures would be useful. I encourage people to live and teach by example, and be unafraid. Ugliness is all around us, but we can’t let it turn us into that ugliness.
CC: Through your work and personal experience, as the president and founder of Devotion to Children, what do you see as some of the biggest obstacles in making childcare affordable and accessible?
RTL: I see that we have public schools. I pray and I wish that we had public childcare, but when you have something like that, people perceive it as tax. But I would rather the taxpayer pay tax and build childcare, then pay tax and build prison. If you don’t teach the children – if you don’t guide them – then when they are lost, what next? If they end up in prison, we have to take care of them anyway, so why don’t we take care of them young?
CC: What of advice would you give to AAPI youth and young professionals who are really passionate about social justice issues like affordable childcare, who want to get involved and maybe start a nonprofit like you did?
RTL: I suggest people get involved in an organization like mine to get a taste of it – to understand the challenge – because whatever you do, it needs money. You cannot give something you don’t have, so try to get experience, build the wealth, and give a helping hand to organizations. When you learn and give at the same time, then later if you want to do something, you have some knowledge and understanding. I do believe that when you give back, you receive. Sometimes it’s not money or not anything, but you receive a gift that you cannot even imagine.
Rosemary Tran Lauer expressed genuine sentiments while reflecting on her work, and when I asked her about her perspective on being both an activist and a philanthropist, her insightful response spoke to the influence our past has on our future. She said that philanthropists give time and money, while volunteers or activists may just give their time. From that, Tran Lauer
recognized that the term “philanthropist” generally comes with the notion that philanthropists are born with money, while that was not so in her case.
Being an Asian American immigrant, she noted that most people like her do not come to America with wealth. However, she is grateful that her work over the years has enabled her to make enough money so that she can give back to others. Being poor “gives you compassion,” she said, since having lived through similar hardships gives one more understanding into the burdens facing the poor. Thus, instead of giving money out of pity, she gives money out of love.
She reiterated her distinction between activists and philanthropists, acknowledging that while both groups strive to improve societal conditions in some way, philanthropy is distinguished by large, generous donations to good causes, while activists may or may not donate some money. However, activists commit themselves to the enduring work of social and political change, even without the necessary financial means. Tran Lauer is both an activist and a philanthropist, and she is grateful she is able to be both, saying, “I find what I do is more fulfilling.”
If you are interested in learning more about Rosemary Tran Lauer or contributing to her efforts to bring affordable childcare to Northern Virginia, check out www.devotiontochildren.org.
