SEA4 Podcast: Southeast Asian Athlete Achievement > Adversity

Growing up Cody Chhun was a typical Seattle teenager and everyone expected him to head to college after high school.  Cody instead chose to forge his own path, into the world of professional wrestling.  Unbeknownst to his family, he would sneak off to wrestling school in nearby Everett to hone his craft.  Cody’s family has since warmed up to the idea and he proudly represents his ancestral homeland in the ring by wearing an Angkor Wat emblem.  It was the image of that famous temple that would catch

As a young child, Toom Chanda’s mother became separated from her parents during the turmoil that occurred after the Laotian Civil war ended in 1975.  More than two decades would pass before she could be reunited with her family in Wisconsin. Toom was born in Laos and immigrated to the United States as a child. He took an interest in martial arts at a young age and by his early 20’s was the owner of several Wisconsin Muay Thai gyms.  He would use his martial arts skills to kick start a Hollywood

This interview was recorded prior to Lo being called up to the NFL. After the 1975 fall of governments in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia many of the resulting refugees found themselves living in the American heartland. The meatpacking industry, in particular, offered an attractive start for these new Americans with its relatively high paying jobs that didn’t require English fluency. Lo Van Pham was born in Pakse, Laos, but grew up in the Eastridge section of Amarillo, Texas, a neighborhood where a large

Billy Soksoda was born outside of Vientiane, Laos, around the time of the communist takeover. At the age of three, he fled the country with his mother and they re-settled in the United States as refugees. The family found themselves living in a tough Sacramento neighborhood, so Billy’s mom decided to move the family to Redding, a small city in California’s rural north. It was in Redding that Billy would be introduced to a popular local sport that would change his life, Rodeo. The first time he

Scott Phaydavong was born in Des Moines, Iowa, to parents who had recently immigrated from Laos as refugees after the civil war.  Scott played running back at Des Moines East High school and went on to rush for over 5,000 yards at Drake University.  He became the first known Lao-American to play professionally when in 2009 he signed with the German Football League’s Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns. While Scott’s football stats are impressive, he’s quick to give credit to his older brothers who broke down

Kris Dim was born in Cambodia in 1973, shortly before the Khmer Rouge upended life in that country.  Between 1975 and 1979 it's estimated that up to 3 million people died in what became known as the Cambodian Genocide.  After fleeing the country with his family and resettling in the United States, Kris took up bodybuilding as a teenager in Sacramento, California.  In 2003 he earned his IFBB pro card by winning the NPC Nationals light-heavyweight championship. In 2007 Kris suffered a heart condition

In the aftermath of the Vietnam war, the secret war in Laos, and the Cambodian genocide a wave of Southeast Asian refugees fled their homelands. They began arriving in the United States during 1975 and continued into the 1980s. While the first group was evacuated by the U.S. military most partook in a harrowing escape and transitioned through refugee camps in other Asian countries such as Thailand, Hong Kong, or the Philippines before being connected with a sponsor for resettlement. This diverse