Eye Lush

Thuy, the owner of the business, was a refugee from Vietnam. She was 8 years old when she moved to the United States with her three siblings. As they were unaccompanied minors, she was placed into the foster care system. Though initially, they were all under one household, Thuy's foster mom developed breast cancer, splitting the four of them into different places. However, the oldest of them eventually decided that they should all live together, so during college their primary residence during vacations was in Virginia. Thuy went on to go to Mount Holyoke in Amherst for four years.

After college, she started off as a paralegal for Asian American immigrants (primarily Vietnamese given she could communicate with them) who couldn't afford legal services. She worked at the first Vietnamese Community Center which was a nonprofit organization that offered housing. Her company offered to pay for schooling, so she then pursued a nursing degree and studied for 2 years at Northeastern University, while also starting a family. She found that being pregnant while working as a nurse made it extremely difficult and inconvenient to commute.

Luckily, her best friend at the time taught her to do hair and lashes, so she was able to turn to another route of employment. Soon, she began to do lashes while also staying at home with the kids and resting. Eventually, she had too many clients, so she decided to start her own business— Eye Lush. Thuy first opened one in Quincy— she added, "I spent a lot of money on decorations!" Eventually, however, she had to move because the landlord sold the land to a buyer.

Thuy opened a new store near Wollaston towards the end of August in 2021. She spoke about how due to social distancing and mandates regarding people coming in and out, business crashed early on. Moreover, the need for lashes was reduced because special occasions were canceled to avoid COVID super spreaders. Despite the initial trajectory growing, the pandemic knocked Eye Lush back down. Thuy also commented on the ongoing racism toward Asians and Asian Americans. She said that the discrimination still remains, it's just not as blatant as it was before. Yet, she did not fail to highlight the prevalence of anti-Asian violence, mentioning that years ago her friend got beat up by a cop.

When asked about whether Asians get enough representation, Thuy talked about how Chinese immigrants in Boston are still pretty new. In California, Chinese Americans have been living there for generations, but Asian immigrants in New England haven't been around for very long, and are consequently not as relevant in the eyes of politicians. The primary example she gave was gentrification in the Boston Chinatown. The amount of ignorance and lack of representation is alarming, with long-time residents constantly being evicted. As a result, Chinese Americans are moving to the suburbs of Boston, like Quincy.