“Look at me,” says Dr. Amarpreet Sawhney, gesturing casuallyto his head, “I wear a turban. ... I’m usually the only guy in the whole placewho’s wearing a turban."
His turban aside, Sawhney has distinguished himself as apremier businessman and chemical engineer in the United States. He is thefounder and CEO of Ocular Theraputix Inc., a Massachusetts-based biosurgicalcompany. Prior to Ocular Theraputix, Sawhney founded two other companies. Hehas over a hundred patents to his name and continues to be a game-changer inthe biomaterials and biosurgery fields.
But among Asian immigrants in the US, Sawhney is more theexception than the rule. He moved from India to Texas for graduate school andwent on to become a successful CEO. Other Asian immigrants don't have as smootha career trajectory in the US.
Though there are more Asian Americans in the US than everbefore ” according to PEW Research Institute, they have surpassed Hispanics asthe largest immigrant group in the US ” Asian Americans still struggle to riseto the upper echelons of corporate America.
The Center for Talent Innovation, a New York nonprofit thinktank, reported in 2011 that though Asians accounted for 15-25 percent of IvyLeague enrollment, they made up less than 2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs andcorporate officers in the US.
But for some Asian immigrants, like Sawhney, there is a wayaround this so-called “bamboo ceiling:” entrepreneurship. Faced with theobstacles of climbing a traditional ladder to the top, many Asian immigrantsand Asian Americans are finding success starting their own companies.
The phenomenon isn’t new, but the term “bamboo ceiling”first entered the public discourse in 2005, with the publication of Jane Hyun’sbook, “Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling: Career Strategies for Asians.”
There are many reasons why this figurative bamboo barrier,just like its glass namesake, exists, but cultural differences and racial biasappear to remain contributing factors.
Paul Watanabe, director of the Institute for Asian AmericanStudies and associate professor of political science at the University ofMassachusetts Boston, researches Asian American small business owners.
He points to successful Asian American small businessowners, as well as Asian entrepreneurs in biotech and technology, as proof ofAsian immigrants’ ability to succeed as founders, bosses, presidents, and CEOs.
"The problem is working yourself up through the ranks,not actually doing the job," he said.
That was certainly the case for Mei Xu, who immigrated toMaryland from Hangzhou, China, in the early 1990s. In 1994, Mei and her husbandfounded Chesapeake Bay Candle Company. Now, Xu is the head of her own homedecor line, Blissliving.
Her success at the head of multiple million-dollar companiescame after frustrating experiences trying to navigate the corporate world inthe US. When she first arrived, she started working for a medical equipmentcompany but found the work dissatisfying. That's the case for many Asianimmigrants, she said.
“If [Asian immigrants] are very smart, they usually willwork for a while and decide that they don’t like the environment,” sheexplains.
