Sam Lee, Operations Research Analyst, Crescendo Management, Inc

I arrived in the US at the tender age of 23, right after I was discharged from the Korean army. I remember taking a deep breath in the car of the person that picked me up. I said, “Wow, the Air in the US is really fresh”. The person who picked me up from the airport answered “Humm..The air conditioner is on”.

My American life started as many new immigrants to the United States, with the challenge of ESL. I was sharpening my brain all of the time, trying to learn this new English tongue. At the same time, my heart was frozen by events back home in Korea. The financial crisis back home forced many of my friends from Korea to give up their studies and return to Korea. However, I was lucky. I was able to graduate from college thanks to the financial support and encouragement of my loving, and financially supportive, parents.

With the economic bubble bursting of the dotcom era, and later the terrorist attack on 9/11 occurred when I was working at a small high tech startup company. Millions of companies collapsed at the same time. It was like a tsunami wrapped up in the middle of a series of unending crises. I personally witnessed many capable managers being layoff from my company who were therefore forced to return to Korea with empty hands. I and a few other like-minded colleagues combined all of our hopes, dreams and monies together and started a brand new company from scratch. We struggled with our start-up from the beginning and literally desperately fought just to survive. 

I got married, and had our first baby. And then a second baby. Meanwhile, my Visa’s assigned time was coming close to an end. I was very afraid that I might lose everything. And then one day I came across the conversation I once had with a person that simply said, “If you should come upon a hard time, please contact me. I might be able to help.” And I asked him, even though it was difficult for me to ask. Amazingly, he accepted my request without hesitation. I couldn’t believe it. I had been granted a small piece of a very valuable bullet. After many months of searching for an immigration specialist with absolutely no luck, I found out Judy Chang and had assigned my case. And she was amazing. She made my life change permanently. This one bullet hit the target! 

Judy Chang and the Manager Chris Park, please continue to help other people that would be in similar situations like me. 

Today I am a 37 head of household, and I am packing for a new job that was offered by the person who granted a valuable bullet. 

I shall always be grateful that Judy Chang and Manager Park for giving me such a ‘valuable bullet’. It granted me the opportunity to pursue the dream that many have tried, without success. They did not have Judy Chang.