Couple from Vietnam find opportunity in Harvard

"I have to say, it's freedom," said the now 34-year-old, the words, supported with a smile, jumping out of her as if spring-loaded. "You can work. You can express yourself. You can tell people what you like and what you don't."

The land of opportunity has been exactly that for Nguyen and Mario Vu. The two are settling into their new life as business owners, four months after buying and renovating Nailtique, a six-year-old nail salon in Harvard.

Both grew up in Vietnam. Vu moved to California, about an hour outside L.A., at age 18. Nguyen came to Chicago. The two met when Vu followed his brother to Schaumburg in 1998 to help out at the nail business he was opening.

Eventually, they moved in together and had a daughter, Lilly Vu, now 4.

Eventually, working two jobs – at his brother's business in Schaumburg and as a CNC operator at a factory – grew old for Vu.

Eventually, the two were pointed toward an advertisement for Nailtique in Harvard, a couple hours from their home in Mokena.

They bought it. They renovated. Here they are.

"I don't ever think about moving back," said the soft-spoken Vu, 38, of Vietnam. "Visiting – going back home to see relatives, my family – that's about it. Over here, you have a lot of opportunity. A lot of opportunity. You have to take advantage of that."

The two say they've been welcomed with open arms in Harvard, which is what they want as much as anything. They like the opportunity to talk with people that this job affords – to learn about the culture they're more and more a part of, and to share their own.

"We hope that people come in and give us a chance to serve them," Nguyen said.

Nguyen recognizes the privilege because it is one she likely would not have had in Vietnam.

Her parents were farmers in a country where the term takes on a whole new meaning.