Sicuong Phu, owner of Freedom Hair Salon, poses Friday inside his Long Branch hair salon. A survivor of the Pol Pot regime in Cambodia, Phu came to America in the 1980s.The move from jewelry store to hair salon is just the latest in Long Branch businessman’s life
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
by Meredith Hooker
Staff Writer
The Gazette (Maryland, USA)
Sicuong Phu has learned how to adapt. He survived the killing fields of Cambodia, struggled to come to this country and became a successful businessman.
But owning his own business wasn’t his motivation.
"I came here to find freedom,” the 59-year-old Silver Spring resident said.
Phu, who owns Freedom Hair Salon, came to Long Branch from Cambodia in 1981. A survivor of the Pol Pot regime, he escaped the country with his young daughter after losing his family, including his first wife, to starvation. His daughter, he said, survived without milk, drinking only water.
Phu, who carried water to men and women working in the fields, survived by pretending to be deaf and dumb, adapting and adjusting to the environment around him. After Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, a communist organization that ran Cambodia, Phu escaped to Vietnam and eventually Thailand before coming to America. He still dreams about the devastation he saw years ago.
When Phu came to Long Branch, he was sponsored by two local residents who he said helped him become a citizen, find a place to live, take English classes and raise his daughter, who is now 31 and in medical school.
"I’m happy to see her be successful in this country,” he said, adding he’s also proud of his four sons who’ve also become successful working for the government and media. "Education is important to me. Everyone wants to work hard.”
Education and work are traits Phu is familiar with. In 1986, after learning English — which he knew he needed to do in order to get by —he opened a jewelry and fabric business so he could support his family.
"Some people like to work for people, but some people don’t like to be owned,” he said. "I had the opportunity to have a business.”
Recently, Phu abandoned his jewelry and fabric business to change with the times, opening a hair salon at his property in Long Branch next to the Bestway, a large Latino market.
Phu said he’d been planning the move for some time because he thought a hair salon would be more successful than his fabric and jewelry business. He knew that in order to succeed, he had to adapt, just like he had to in Cambodia and when he first came to the U.S.
"I work hard, I try hard,” he said.
He renovated his store with some help, bringing in chairs, sinks and hair dryers, and painting the walls a shade of blue.
Phu is also going to school to get his license to cut hair, driving to Bladensburg at 6 a.m. to take classes before coming in to work.
But it’s not hard, he said. "I have skill with my hands.”
That’s also evident in the floor of the salon, which Phu laid himself years ago when he opened his jewelry and fabric business.
Owning the salon is a bigger responsibility, he said. He has to take care of finances and hire people to cut hair, as well as keep his store tidy. He is continuing to sell watches, one of the hottest items in his jewelry store, and he’s made sure that signs advertising the salon are on the front of his building in both English and Spanish.
"I come in here 11 or 12 hours a day for 20 years,” he said. "... I work hard.”
Owning a business can be frustrating. But when he feels that emotion setting in, Phu said he steps back, sits down and closes his eyes for a minute to put things in perspective. One of his concerns is his customer base, which is small right now.
"Right now I don’t have many customers, but I hope to get more,” he said. Because he’s located next to the Bestway, where many people shop, Phu said he hopes he’ll have walk-in clientele.
He’s also learned to communicate with Long Branch’s diverse population, learning enough Spanish to create a bilingual sign outside his shop and to speak with Wheaton resident Beatriz Tarraga, 48, who recently started working for him as a stylist.
"He’s a very good person, a very nice person,” Tarraga said.
Rockville’s Janie Lim also recently started working for Phu, though she said she’s known him much longer. They met in school about 20 years ago, when they were taking adult education classes and the two have fun together.
"He’s a kind person,” she said. "He likes to help people out.”
But owning his own business wasn’t his motivation.
"I came here to find freedom,” the 59-year-old Silver Spring resident said.
Phu, who owns Freedom Hair Salon, came to Long Branch from Cambodia in 1981. A survivor of the Pol Pot regime, he escaped the country with his young daughter after losing his family, including his first wife, to starvation. His daughter, he said, survived without milk, drinking only water.
Phu, who carried water to men and women working in the fields, survived by pretending to be deaf and dumb, adapting and adjusting to the environment around him. After Vietnam invaded Cambodia to overthrow Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, a communist organization that ran Cambodia, Phu escaped to Vietnam and eventually Thailand before coming to America. He still dreams about the devastation he saw years ago.
When Phu came to Long Branch, he was sponsored by two local residents who he said helped him become a citizen, find a place to live, take English classes and raise his daughter, who is now 31 and in medical school.
"I’m happy to see her be successful in this country,” he said, adding he’s also proud of his four sons who’ve also become successful working for the government and media. "Education is important to me. Everyone wants to work hard.”
Education and work are traits Phu is familiar with. In 1986, after learning English — which he knew he needed to do in order to get by —he opened a jewelry and fabric business so he could support his family.
"Some people like to work for people, but some people don’t like to be owned,” he said. "I had the opportunity to have a business.”
Recently, Phu abandoned his jewelry and fabric business to change with the times, opening a hair salon at his property in Long Branch next to the Bestway, a large Latino market.
Phu said he’d been planning the move for some time because he thought a hair salon would be more successful than his fabric and jewelry business. He knew that in order to succeed, he had to adapt, just like he had to in Cambodia and when he first came to the U.S.
"I work hard, I try hard,” he said.
He renovated his store with some help, bringing in chairs, sinks and hair dryers, and painting the walls a shade of blue.
Phu is also going to school to get his license to cut hair, driving to Bladensburg at 6 a.m. to take classes before coming in to work.
But it’s not hard, he said. "I have skill with my hands.”
That’s also evident in the floor of the salon, which Phu laid himself years ago when he opened his jewelry and fabric business.
Owning the salon is a bigger responsibility, he said. He has to take care of finances and hire people to cut hair, as well as keep his store tidy. He is continuing to sell watches, one of the hottest items in his jewelry store, and he’s made sure that signs advertising the salon are on the front of his building in both English and Spanish.
"I come in here 11 or 12 hours a day for 20 years,” he said. "... I work hard.”
Owning a business can be frustrating. But when he feels that emotion setting in, Phu said he steps back, sits down and closes his eyes for a minute to put things in perspective. One of his concerns is his customer base, which is small right now.
"Right now I don’t have many customers, but I hope to get more,” he said. Because he’s located next to the Bestway, where many people shop, Phu said he hopes he’ll have walk-in clientele.
He’s also learned to communicate with Long Branch’s diverse population, learning enough Spanish to create a bilingual sign outside his shop and to speak with Wheaton resident Beatriz Tarraga, 48, who recently started working for him as a stylist.
"He’s a very good person, a very nice person,” Tarraga said.
Rockville’s Janie Lim also recently started working for Phu, though she said she’s known him much longer. They met in school about 20 years ago, when they were taking adult education classes and the two have fun together.
"He’s a kind person,” she said. "He likes to help people out.”
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