Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls, N.Y., Michele DeLuca column

Sept. 29--I met a man the other day who owns his own insurance company.

He is also a parking valet at the Seneca Niagara Hotel and Casino.

When we met, I was doing a story about businesses in the LaSalle region, particularly those that are owned by residents in the Falls neighborhood.

I was going to the various shops to meet some local business owners when I stopped in at the Xiaoning Zhang Agency, a little insurance company at 8701 Buffalo Ave.

The owner wasn't there so I left a message for him to call me.

When he did, I was struck by his story.

His name is Xiaoning, pronounced "Shawning," but he also goes by Albert because he worries people won't be able to pronounce his name. For my purposes here, let's just call him Albert.

Albert was born on mainland China in 1952.

"People don't know I'm 65," he told me proudly. "I'm full of energy."

I can vouch for that.

He told me his parents were both members of the Chinese Liberation Army and fought against the invading Japanese in 1937. He grew up middle class until his first year of middle school, when the Cultural Revolution closed all schools, trying to purge impure elements from the nation's youth.

Everyone was supposed to be equal in the revolution and Albert was sent to a farm where he was forced to dig holes and tunnels, working in the hot sun and living like a peasant, going hungry many days. It was pretty miserable.

It's no wonder that when he finally got a chance to improve his life, he went at it with remarkable enthusiasm.

Eventually, he obtained a two-year associate's degree in China which included an education in the English language. He began doing work selling exports to American companies like K-Mart, acting as the negotiator between Chinese and American businesses.

Eventually, he followed a dream and came to America, first to New York City and then landing in Niagara Falls after he met his first wife online.

He took a job as a parking valet at the Seneca Niagara Casino when it first opened in 2006. And then he figured it was time to really begin his life as an American.

"I said,'OK, now it's time for me to go to school to study,'" he told me.

Albert signed up to attend Niagara County Community College, but he failed the entrance test in math, reading and writing. Undeterred, he studied and took the test again. He failed the writing portion. He enrolled in a writing workshop for a semester and finally passed. After that, he got top grades in English 101 and English 102.

"I worked hard," he told me from his small office. "I studied hard."

He's particularly proud that he obtained a top grade in his public speaking class. His presentation was about how he believes that Niagara Falls needs an international exhibition center. He recalls the professor told him, "You knocked my socks off." At the time, he didn't know exactly what that meant, but he knew it was a compliment.

He went on to receive his bachelor's degree in accounting from Niagara University. And then he became a certified financial planner. He went to work at a life insurance company, making up to 150 phone calls a day in an attempt to get clients. With his Chinese accent, it was a challenging task. He managed, but admitted to me that "speaking through the phone is not my best option. I really like talking to people face to face."

He did well enough to open his own Farmer's Insurance agency on Buffalo Avenue in 2015. He's now looking to hire people like himself, who understand that the positions he has to offer people are very entrepreneurial.

"In this job, you only earn a commission," he explained.

"The first step is very difficult," he added, but noted that for those who work hard, there is no limit. "The ocean and the sky will open up to you."

Albert doesn't take his success for granted. He continues to work full-time at the casino, parking cars. His boss, Tony Senese, has watched Albert's journey from immigrant to citizen to small business owner.

"He's a hard worker," Senese told me with admiration in his voice.

"I work two jobs because that gives me a kind of balance," Albert said. "Here, I use my mind. There, I exercise and walk to rest my mind."

Besides that, once you've been a hungry peasant teenager digging trenches and holes in the hot sun, not much seems too hard, according to Albert.

Plus, there's a few bonuses to parking cars.

"I can drive all kinds of cars and meet all kinds of people," he said, smiling.

Albert's insurance business is growing, he says. It is fortified by Chinese-speaking clients in Rochester, but also by his willingness to help out, especially for his Chinese clients when they are facing difficulties and where he can act as an interpreter.

"I help them when they report an accident," he said. "In this way, I have a chance to bring them an education."

In this day and age, when there are so many conversations about immigrants, I thought it would be of interest to share a bit Xiaoning's success story.

Xiaoning Zhang impressed me. He made me wonder how many people might consider such a humble job like parking cars as fuel for their own eventual success.

And yet, that kind of dedication to achievement continues to be the essence of most American dreams.

Contact Michele DeLuca at 282-2311, ext. 2263 or email her at michele.deluca@niagara-gazette.com.

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