Casey immigrated from Hong Kong when she was 18 years old and has been living in New York City for nine years.
Being here opens a lot of doors for me and I know that. Don’t tell my husband I said that; I hate it when he says that. Uhm…I think there would never be opportunity like that if I’m decided to move back to Hong Kong. Like it would be this. Never in a million years. That’s what me and my parents always said that though. America is a really good place for people like me. There’s a lot of chances, but its also one of those places, uhm, I feel…I feel like if you don’t try to make a difference here, then you would end up being at the bottom. But Hong Kong is one of those places […] it doesn’t matter how hard you try, you will just be. I feel like it’s a lot more luck there, but I feel here, it’s like, well, luck it important no matter where you are, but there’s…there’s something in our culture, in our values, that allow people like me to do what I do. And not having a lot of education about it. I appreciate the education I got here, but I feel like mostly was how open people are just buying things on the street from me. If it weren’t for that one person who thought oh this is so cool. Hong Kong people would never buy things at that price. But in America, especially New York City , they value intellectual property so, so highly they appreciate originality, they appreciate individuality, they so think that being in a common place is dangerous, like they strive to be different. That makes my business possible.”
