Street Roots • June 17-23, 2016
HUYEN, from page 5
Although they both had college degrees
from Vietnam, it meant nothing in the U.S.
They both enrolled in Northeastern Illinois
University and earned degrees in computer
science.
They also saved enough money to open
and operate several businesses - two
clothing stores, a gift shop and a perfume
store. Huyen and her sister would print price
tags, dress mannequins and fill out orders.
Her little brother would man the cash
register.
At the same time, her parents also began
to sell insurance for MetLife, with her father
becoming a regional manager and her
mother a top seller.
By the mid-1990s, when Huyen was about
20, her parents bought a house in the
suburbs of Chicago. They’d finally made it
In Huyen, her parents instilled the
importance of helping their fellow
Vietnamese, many of whom were struggling.
Her father was awarded the Republican
Senatorial Medal of Freedom in 1994 for his
service to Vietnamese Americans, and in
1995, he was awarded the Eternal Flame of
Freedom Brass Medallion by Sen. Bob Dole
- two medals he wears proudly to this day.
Ms. Oregon
Huyen came to Portland in 1999, when
her father was invited to speak at a large
Vietnamese festival.
By this time, she had graduated from
college, earning a degree in psychology from
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
and was working as a director at a children’s
activity center in Chicago.
Huyen immediately fell in love with
Oregon.
“Everyone is so nice and caring in
Oregon,” she said. “If I lose a pair of
earrings on the street, I have at least one
person looking for the pair without asking.
No one turns their back on anyone.
Everyone just wants to help one another.”
It wasn’t long before she returned to
Portland for another vacation, and in search
of a husband. If she found a husband in
News
Portland, she could make the move.
Being the beautiful and alluring 25-year-
old woman that she’d become, this didn’t
take long.
“I was in a coffee shop, and I saw this guy.
He was in a suit and really handsome, and I
was like: Oh my Gosh! How do I get his
attention?” She sat across from him, the two
exchanged smiles, and four months later
they were married.
About a year later, on a whim, she entered
a model search at the Portland Convention
Center. There were hundreds of girls
competing. She felt out of place - she was
the oldest, the shortest and, she said, the
chubbiest So when she was handpicked by
Princess Diana’s longtime hairdresser,
Richard Dalton, as a winner, she could hardly
believe it
“My self-esteem went way up,” she said. “I
beat all those girls! From then on, it was
always in my mind - if I can beat all those
girls, I could probably win again if I had
another chance.” But she was busy, working
in child care and as a teacher, and she didn’t
pursue it.
Her marriage lasted about five years
before Huyen decided to end it. She wanted
children, and he wasn’t ready. Her clock was
ticking, and they had differences, she said.
She never told her husband the story of her
escape.
She eventually took a job in accounting at
Portland State University, where she’s been
working for the past 14 years.
A devout Buddhist, she goes to temple
every Sunday. She also goes to Christian
Bible study every Wednesday on her lunch
break. She’s a private person, who avidly
reads books and magazines in her apartment
downtown. She also loves nature, recently
scaling Mt St. Helens, and now she’s
training outdoors for Iron Man. Aside from
parties where she said she’s a social
butterfly, she prefers to keep to herself.
In November 2015, she was thinking
about that model search all those years ago
when her younger cousin - Nancy To, Miss
Illinois 2012 - told her about how much fun
it was to be a pageant winner.
“It was always in the back of my head, but
Page 7
I was like, no, you’re old now, you’re in your
40s,” Huyen said. But then she discovered
the Ms. America pageant and thought why
not?
Four months later, in February, she got a
call from the pageant’s CEO, former Ms.
America Susan Jeske.
“I thought her story was amazing,” Jeske
¿aid. “And she does a ton of volunteering,
was on the dean’s list in college, there are so
many awards she’s received - she’s just so
talented and so diverse.”
And it’s true. Huyen showed Street Roots
some of her awards and certificates. The
little girl who was afraid to speak English in
second grade went on to excel in high school
and college and continues to earn
recognition for both her contributions to the
Vietnamese community and her volunteer
work.
About 10 years ago, she became a U.S.
citizen and has taken an interest in local
politics, most recently donating her
weekends to A Better Oregon, the group
behind the November ballot measure
seeking to raise the minimum tax on
corporations making more than $25 million
per year in order to fund K-12 education,
health care and senior services.
In her new role as Ms. Oregon, she’s
already given speeches at dozens of events
where she’s encouraged her audiences to do
their part in the fight against world hunger
and poverty.
“We are spoiled,” she said. “We buy an
expensive purse, not me, but in general, like
a Louis Vuitton purse - they could save
somebody’s life with that money! Or even a
little, just a dollar could help a kid in a Third
World country.”
She said she wants to use her title as Ms.
Oregon to make a difference, and she said
while her platform is world poverty, she
won’t have to travel far.
“We have a lot of homeless people on the
streets, and I would love to help Oregon
first,” she said. “One step at a time and one
person at a time would mean a lot to me.
Everyone counts.”
emily@streetroots. org