By Erin O’Donnell<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up in\u202fManitowoc,\u202fa town of less than\u202f35,000,\u202fTou Jim Lee\u202foften\u202fdreamed\u202fof\u202fsomething bigger.\u202fHe\u202fchose\u202fto attend\u202fUW-Milwaukee,\u202fhoping\u202fthat\u202fa large, urban university would provide more opportunities than\u202fa smaller school.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee\u2019s\u202fparents\u202fare Hmong refugees, and as their\u202foldest\u202fson\u202fand the first person\u202fin their family to attend\u202fcollege,\u202fLee\u202fwas\u202fextra motivated. \u201cI had to be the big brother and\u202fpave\u202fthe way for my siblings,\u201d he said.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of his goals\u202fwas to\u202fbe featured on the\u202fcover of Forbes magazine\u202fsomeday, celebrated\u202ffor his success in business.\u202fHe\u202fentered the Lubar College of Business as a marketing major\u202fin fall 2014 and\u202fquickly joined\u202fmultiple student\u202fgroups, including\u202fthe Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization,\u202for\u202fCEO Club.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery opportunity I had, I took advantage of it,\u201d he\u202fsaid.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, he\u202fwas selected to participate in an international program known as University Innovation Fellows, which involved traveling to Stanford University to network with other entrepreneurship-minded students. He also joined student government and completed a study abroad in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UWM\u2019s\u202fStudent Success Center\u202fhelped connect\u202fLee\u202fwith\u202fan internship with Manpower, working with its North America and global marketing teams. Later he took an internship with the\u202fHmong Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce, a tiny nonprofit\u202fon Milwaukee\u2019s west side, to help develop the chamber\u2019s marketing and website.\u202fAfter\u202fgraduating from\u202fUWM,\u202fhe\u202fcontinued to work for\u202fthe chamber.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTen years later,\u202fI\u2019m\u202fstill here,\u201d\u202fsaid\u202fLee,\u202fwho\u202fis currently\u202fdirector of operations and communications. He uses the entrepreneurship and critical thinking skills he gained at UWM daily; the chamber is\u202fnow\u202f\u201ca multimillion-dollar\u202fnonprofit, with five offices across the state,\u201d he said.\u202f\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His favorite parts of the job include getting to know people in his community who want to open a new business or grow an existing one, and providing free business consultations and the business loan program, \u201cto help them avoid loan sharks when looking for funding.\u201d\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also\u202festablished Our Scholarship, a\u202fgrassroots\u202feffort\u202fthat has to date\u202fawarded\u202f$19,000\u202fin scholarships\u202fto\u202fSoutheast Asian students\u202fin Wisconsin who are headed to college.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\u202fLee\u202fowns\u202fa\u202fsmall\u202fboba tea business called Nova Boba, named for Nova, the cat he and his wife adopted from the Wisconsin Humane Society.\u202fThey often sell their tea and other beverages at festivals\u202fand farmers\u202fmarkets, where\u202fLee\u202floves\u202fintroducing people to boba tea, a fun\u202fdrink\u202fthat originated in Taiwan.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u202fhasn\u2019t\u202fappeared on the cover of Forbes, but\u202fLee says\u202fthat\u202fserving as a\u202fleader in the Hmong and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities\u202fhas\u202fbeen more\u202frewarding\u202fthan his teenage self could have imagined.\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI feel\u202freally lucky\u202fthat\u202fI\u2019m\u202fin a space where I can advocate for and\u202fsupport people that look like me,\u202fto give them a voice and\u202fhelp\u202fthem chase their dreams,\u201d\u202fhe said.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Erin O’Donnell Growing up in\u202fManitowoc,\u202fa town of less than\u202f35,000,\u202fTou Jim Lee\u202foften\u202fdreamed\u202fof\u202fsomething bigger.\u202fHe\u202fchose\u202fto attend\u202fUW-Milwaukee,\u202fhoping\u202fthat\u202fa large, urban university would provide more opportunities than\u202fa smaller school.\u202f\u202f Lee\u2019s\u202fparents\u202fare Hmong refugees, and as their\u202foldest\u202fson\u202fand the first person\u202fin their family to attend\u202fcollege,\u202fLee\u202fwas\u202fextra motivated. \u201cI had to be the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3012,"featured_media":21221,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[39,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-spotlight"],"uwm_unpublish_requested":false,"yoast_head":"\n