How an immigrant made a career as a cleaning lady to professor Stanford
'24.10.2018'
Source: CNN
Cleaning houses, working as a cashier in a Chinese restaurant, walking the dogs ... Fei Fei Li came to the USA at the age of 16 with great hopes. It took a lot of weird and hard work for her to achieve her dream. Fortunately, she was smart and very diligent. Today this woman is the director of the artificial intelligence laboratory at Stanford University.
“I see extremely talented Stanford University students struggling with visa and status issues, and it seems inconceivable that we create so many barriers to talent from around the world,” says Lee.
Being an immigrant who started in America from scratch, this woman knows what kind of sacrifice and determination the path to success in a foreign country requires of you, tells CNN. Fei Fei Lee was able to find her way and two years ago received the honorary title of the Great Immigrant, which is awarded to foreigners who have achieved particular success in the United States.
While she was in college at Princeton, she borrowed money from friends and even her school math teacher to buy dry cleaners, in which her parents could develop a business in America. The girl went to class during the week and worked in the company on weekends.
When Li was in graduate school, her mom developed cancer and had a stroke one day. Carrying all this on her shoulders, Fei Fei could barely cope with moving forward, but continued to walk. Recently, in 2016, she was named a Great Immigrant by the oldest grant organization in the United States, the Carnegie Corporation. Annually, she honors approximately 40 naturalized US citizens who are particularly distinguished for their achievements in the country. Lee's graduate school was supported by Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.
Here is the story of her success in America firsthand:
What life did you see as a child?
My parents were educated, but did not speak English. So instead of being engineers and scientists, my father repaired the equipment, and my mother worked as a cashier.
We had no money, so, besides all my classes, I did all kinds of work. It did not upset me, because my parents also worked hard. We just tried to survive as a family.
I had to learn English from scratch, but I had good grades - especially in math and science.
High School in Parsippany was middle school in New Jersey. I met several teachers there who were very kind to me and helped me cope with this difficult experience. I finished school sixth in class.
Did you feel part of the community in Parsippany?
We had immigrant friends, but everyone was busy and we were in survival mode.
In high school I had some friends. The time was cruel, and I was very aloof. But my high school teacher was very kind to me, and his kindness really helped.
I am very grateful to the teachers for their help. I was nobody, just an immigrant, and did not speak English at all.
What was your biggest problem?
The desire to search for knowledge and truth was in my blood. I wanted to understand the Universe, and I wanted such intellectualism in my life. I applied to a bunch of colleges, but it was Princeton who gave me an almost full scholarship.
During the first two years of my immigrant life, I worked only in Chinese restaurants and cleaned the houses, and then suddenly I ended up in Princeton with all these wonderful intellectuals. I loved Princeton.
However, my family in Parsippani was still struggling to survive. I decided to buy dry cleaning for them so that they could work and earn money. Every day after class I “hung on the phone” to help them.
For me it was "The Tale of Two Cities: Parsippany and Princeton." So from Monday to Friday, I studied physics at Princeton. And on weekends, she returned to Parsippany and worked in a dry-cleaner.
I graduated from college in 1999 year. We all then received offers from Wall Street, but my dream was to go to Tibet to spend a year exploring Tibetan medicine. Then my dream was to get a doctorate for which you do not pay anything.
As the daughter of Chinese parents, I had a duty to take care of them. When Goldman Sachs offers you a salary, it’s a distraction — I could take this job and that would make everything easier. I was invited for interviews by investment banks and consulting companies, but I did not go. After a couple of years McKinsey offered me a job, but I didn’t accept it either.
My parents were very supportive of my dreams. They came to this country to follow the dream, and therefore I had to learn it.
I enrolled in a graduate school at Caltech, studied artificial intelligence and computational neuroscience. High school was difficult, my mom had cancer and a stroke, and we went through a lot of difficult days. But we survived together.
I had to go through all this while immersing myself in a completely new society and culture. I do not think I can do it again.
What helped you maintain integrity?
I'm a hunter. It's in my DNA. If I spend a lot of time mourning my difficult life, it is distracting. There have always been people who wanted to support me - my parents, my teachers.
It doesn't take 500 people, just a few - and that makes a huge difference.
What do you hope to leave your children?
This is a very cosmic issue. I would prefer to do a better job in order to create a better world in which our children will live.
What helps you every day?
I watch and play with my children. My field is mind. They shed so much light on understanding what it means to be smart and what it means to be a "creature." It's so great to see children grow up and become intelligent people.
I know it sounds strange, but I believe that the ultimate power is love. And the technologist should always remember this.
