Cathy Nguyen’s Family And Her Customers Come First
Cathy Nguyen is the Lead Teller for Wells Fargo Bank at the Mission Brand She supervises a dozen tellers at the Ft. Bend county branch where she has an opportunity to help those originally from Vietnam. It gives her great pride to help older customers and their families from Vietnam.
What about Communism compelled your family to eventually escape from Vietnam?
My family values its faith and worshiping God, which Communism forbids. My parents put a high priority on educating their children but in Communism my brothers and sisters and I were banned from higher education. As an agricultural expert, my father knew free enterprise was the best form of economics and exercise for the human spirit. Communism, he saw, was not compatible to him. It was without compassion for being human.
My father and brother tried a few times to escape with the idea of later sending for us but they were jailed. Finally my father figured he or anyone in his family could any longer stay in Communism’s claw. We bought Chinese identities with the little money we had left and took a crowded boat to Indonesia where we spent a year locked in a refugee camp before an uncle sponsored us to Houston.
How did you get involved with business and banking?
Our family crowded in an apartment near Bellaire and Hillcroft and I graduated from Lee High School. I was fascinated by money and what it means in American culture. I worked at Fiesta earning my way from cashier to manager while pursuing a business degree in college. I started at Wells Fargo more than four years ago and was promoted to Lead Teller post about a year ago.
What do youenjoy most about your work?
I thoroughly enjoy helping people from every persuasion possible to do well. This bank is in an area that is very diverse with people from every culture on earth. I specifically am glad I am here though because often customers come into the bank speaking Vietnamese but little or no English. I’m here to help them and translate when they want to learn about how home and business loans or even the most basic of banking business. Many Vietnamese come from a culture where they’re very hesitant to trust anyone with their valuables, their money and resources. I assure them that in a bank their money is safe and it’s guaranteed which is better than keeping it home in a shoe box.
Beyond banking what is your life’s focus?
My husband Sunny is facilities manager for a hotel and we have built our home in northwest Houston. Our pride is our two children that include our daughter who is in college and son who is in high school. As a family we attend Vietnam Temple every Sunday to share fellowship with those that share our faith and values. It is where our children learn Vietnamese to appreciate their culture and where we meet with those that share the Vietnamese roots that we hold dear. By our remembering where it is we came from I believe it makes us better Americans for all our future.
My grandmother will turn 91 this Thanksgiving and every year as long as we’ve been in America we have gathered with my parents and my husband’s parents, our aunts, uncles and our cousins to give thanks as the pilgrims gave thanks for their success in America and to celebrate our lives.