Adapted from an interview with Larry Hoang by Kristine Wong.

I was born in Saigon. We lost our country in 1975 in the Vietnam War when I was 12 years old. When I was 14, I saw a man dying of starvation on the street. The second I looked in his eyes, I saw him ask for help. I backed away because I couldn't take on that responsibility. That has haunted me for the rest of my life. It made me promise to myself that I would work hard and never let my family go hungry. 

On my 15th birthday, in 1979, I came to the United States. 

The boat was cramped—there were about 17 of us. On the third day, a Thai fishermen's boat came up to us. They tied our two boats together and gave us water. Suddenly, one fisherman took out a knife—big, heavy, and shaped like a mango. He said, "Give us all your money and jewelry." 

Then the fishermen took the three women onto their boat and unclothed them. The men on our boat decided to fight back. We knew that most of us were going to die—we were malnourished, the fisherman with the knife was two times my size, and the captain had a handgun. But we didn't care. I was standing less than five feet away from the fisherman. We looked at each other's eyes. He probably thought I was mean, but I was crying inside. 

At that moment, a U.S. Navy fighter flew across the two boats and dropped a small balloon with a flare. The fishermen knew they couldn't get away with killing us. The navy then flew us to Singapore.

That day will live with me forever. It helped make me fight harder for what I believe. It made me appreciate life. Still, I didn't celebrate my birthday for the next seven or eight years because of the trauma.

Later, I arrived in Tampa, Florida, and went to high school, where I learned English. There were many wonderful people there, but it was hard when I rode my bike to school. Kids on the bus would bang on the window when they passed me, yelling racist things. Two kids would yell and scream at me as they drove a car very close to me. Finally, I got in front of their car at a red light and stopped traffic for about 5 to 10 minutes. I was ready to fight. But the guys looked scared, even though they were bigger than me. The driver came out of the car and apologized. 

Then I got a four-year degree in electrical engineering at the University of South Florida, and later a master's in electrical engineering at San Jose State. I studied engineering because when I first came to the United States, I asked what major made the most money. When I finished school, I worked at a furniture store and liked it, so I opened my own store. We're still in business today. I get to talk with normal people and laugh and share stories with them. This was very different from my work studying to be an engineer. I would always be in front of the computer. 

After taking a class at the Solar Living Institute in Mendocino County in 2007, I founded Lifestyle Solar with my wife. What inspired me to sign up for the class was that the presenter at the institute's 10-minute introductory talk said that around half of all solar systems were being installed incorrectly. He urged any of us with the right backgrounds to get into solar. 

The first couple of jobs took forever to install. Today a job takes 1 to 2 days max, but it took me 10 days to do the first job. After finishing the first 5 to 10 jobs, we were so proud that we took pictures of ourselves in front of all the houses. Now we have offices in Fresno and San Jose and over 30 employees with profit sharing. 

I tell my employees I'd rather lose money than do a bad job. We pay by the hour, since paying by the job can make people cut corners. We have never had a roof leak in any of the seven years we've been in business. I'm proud of that. 

There are fewer than 10 solar companies in California owned by Asians. I've been successful because I believe I am the same as anyone else. I haven't been afraid to enter American society. It's easy for me to deal with failure. My ability to do that comes from being an American.