Beginning his career as a skyscraper deputy manager earning $500 monthly salary and after 25-year of exile, Victor Foia, an American citizen born in Romania, became the vice-president of one of the most famous American companies, NEC America, a subsidiary of NEC Corporation, whose annual revenues amount at 48 billion dollars. As for his wage, this is confidential.
Victor Foia was born in Cluj in 1946 and left Romania at the cusp of the '60s, before graduating from the Physics Faculty of Babes-Bolyai University.
"The dictatorial political system of those times allowed very little room for personal development. That background prompted the youngsters to search for a career abroad. It was not about buying a car or getting richer, it was about doing something on your own," he recollects.
"So, when I had the opportunity, I'd rather not talk about, I left for Italy. I lived in an asylum, I succeeded in getting the political asylum status and I could go further. I arrived at Chicago in April 1970, leaving in the house of a fellow from Cluj," says Foia.
The first challenge the new emigrant had to cope with was learning English: "I spoke French, which I had learned during the high-school years and Italian, as I learnt it in the asylum, but these were useless in America. I had to search for a job using the gesture language.
From the very beginning, I went from one door to another explaining them that I wanted to work, but they rejected me. After four days of attempts, I returned on the main street. An employer who had previously thrown me out asked me if I could paint.
I replied that my painting skills were perfect and he accompanied me to this 30-floor building's roof, where there was a tower I had to cover in waterproof painting." From his first pay, Foia rented a basement in a building in Chicago along with other refugees.
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