May 2021
More than 14.1 million Asian immigrants reside in the U.S. along with well over a million people from Pacific-island nations, including Fiji, the Cook Islands, and New Zealand. Together, Asian and Pacific-region people have made innumerable contributions to American culture and industry, from laboring on the Transcontinental Railroad in the 19th century to pioneering contributions in science, medicine, technology, the arts, and every walk of life today. As part of observing Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, we talked with a Realtor® of Asian descent who has made outstanding contributions to the industry and his community.
Moving Beyond Yesterday
Realty Group CEO, Long Doan reflects on a childhood marred by the horrors of war, and a life healed by the promise of America
Recognized by Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as one of the most admired CEOs in the Twin Cities, Long Doan, founder of Realty Group in Coon Rapids, operates a thriving brokerage with more than 500 agents. And while his success epitomizes the American Dream, his story is rooted in the nightmare of the Vietnam War.
In 1975 Doan’s father, Doan Viet Hoat, a professor and university vice chancellor refused to publicly endorse the new Vietnam communist government as legitimate and was arrested and sent to a “re-education camp” where he endured torture and forced labor. Doan was only eight years old.
“That was the day my childhood ended and our world crumbled,” Doan told Real Estate Magazine in a 2017 interview. To survive, his mother worked two jobs while Doan stood in long lines every day after school for meager rations. Living with his mother, two younger siblings, and grandparents in a home their family had owned for several generations, conditions steadily grew worse.
By the time Doan was 13, poverty and hunger were realities of life. Hoping to create a new path forward, Doan’s mother, Thuc, arranged for him to escape the country. Doan boarded a boat crammed with 152 other refugees and headed west across the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Thailand. With only a day of food and water left, the vessel was spotted by a friendly ship that took them aboard and delivered them safely to Malaysia.
For the next year, Doan made his home in a crowded camp with 40,000 other Vietnamese refugees on the tiny island of Bidong. Living in abysmal conditions with inadequate sanitation, the inhabitants sheltered in crude huts made from salvaged timber, plastic sheets, corrugated iron, and other discarded materials.
Fortunately, his residency on “Hell Island” ended when his uncle, who was attending the University of Minnesota, sponsored Doan, allowing him to emigrate to the United States. Although deeply grateful, adapting to life in Minnesota brought a whole new set of trials.
“I was fortunate to have my uncle and my aunt to help me assimilate, but it was still very challenging. The language and culture shock were the hardest, along with being different than everyone else,” Doan said. “I think a mentor or buddy system in school would have helped me even more.”
Although Doan’s days were busy with the demands of school and adjusting to life in the United States, his mother, father, and siblings were always on his mind. He vowed that one day he would one day reunite with them in Minnesota.
Eventually, one of Doan’s younger brothers was able to emigrate from Vietnam to Minnesota. Later, they were joined by his mother and youngest brother. Thuc made it her cause to fight for the release of her husband, still imprisoned since 1975. It took many years, but when Doan was 32, the Vietnamese government agreed to let Doan Viet Hoat join his family in the United States. He had not seen his father in over two decades.
Doan strived to build a prosperous life for himself and his family. Getting a job with TCF Bank in 1992, he worked on the mortgage side of the industry for 15 years before getting his real estate license in 2007 and founding Realty Group. Since then, the brokerage has grown rapidly, taking in $33 million in gross revenue.
For all his success, Doan acknowledges it is not always easy for Asian Americans to find acceptance in the United States. And since the pandemic began, prejudice and acts of violence against people of Asian descent have increased exponentially.
“Uncertainty creates stress and fear. Many just don't understand that Asian Americans are also Americans, we just came with a different set of principles and values,” Doan said. “Yes, because I look different than most, many people are apprehensive on how to take me. I look at that as an opportunity to educate them about me and where I came from. People for the most part are kind and want to learn. They just don't know how to ask. So, I give them the benefit of the doubt. Instead of having negative thoughts about why they treat me the way they may, I get excited and want to help them grow.”
“I reflect daily because it is my goal to be a better version of myself every day—beyond my yesterday,” Doan said. “Through meditation and breathing, we develop a growth mindset instead of a fixed mindset, and cultivate the respect, politeness, love, and patience that we share with others, helping them grow, too.”
It’s a philosophy that touches everything Doan does, from his personal life and his business to the broader American community of which he is a very much a part.