Theresa Motter of Van’s Kitchen: I Am Living Proof Of The American Dream

Believe in the American dream and believe in yourself: As a little girl, I never dreamed of leading a company because I don’t remember seeing women leaders, so I didn’t know that I would be able to live the dream of being able to run a business. There have been times this year when I’ve thought, “What are we going to do? What if things don’t work out?” But I believe we can make it through this.

As a part of our series about immigrant success stories, I had the pleasure of interviewing Theresa Motter, CEO of Van’s Kitchen.

Theresa Motter was born to run an egg roll business. She immigrated with her family to the United States in the late 1960s from Vietnam. In 1975, the Nguyen family moved to the Dallas area, and in 1986 Theresa’s father launched VAN Oriental Food, a specialty egg roll vendor focused on creating quality products as well as job opportunities for its diverse community. Theresa was involved in the company from the beginning, contributing to its launch after she graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in…