Spotlight: Gaochia Penny Lee

Gaochia Penny Lee, or Penny as she prefers to be called, is the current Junior Miss Princess of Inver Grove Heights, MN. The youngest child of Shoua Thao and Hue Lee (Nchaiv Hwj Lis), she is the youngest and only daughter of five. Penny, who turns 14 this month, currently lives in Inver Grove Heights, and attends the city’s middle school as an 8th grader.

It came as a chance encounter that Penny even knew about the Royalty Program: “My mom and I went to the Inver Grove library and as we were walking out the door, we saw a flyer...they were looking for candidates,” Penny said. At first, she wasn’t so sure, but her mom encouraged her to try it out. “We went home and looked at the website,” Penny said, saying that was how she found out about what the requirements were. That night, she and her mom had officially signed up and the real work began.

Dr. Blong Bliaxa

Despite the difficulties that all small businesses have faced in a tough economy, Dr. Blong Bliaxa Vang was able to start a flourishing chiropractic practice in St. Paul.   He believes that his dedication to his patients helped him solidify his place in the community, but that it was a difficult journey to success.  After facing a competitive market and uninformed consumers, he decided to form a company that would help other Hmong businesses and professionals prevail over the challenges that he faced as a new business owner.