🏁 Axios Finish Line: American Dream

The résumé on the hood | Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Open in app View in browser     Axios Finish Line By Mike Allen, Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·May 10, 2022 May 10, 2022 Welcome back. We're at FinishLine@axios.com to field your feedback. Smart Brevity™ count: 377 words ... 1½ minutes.     1 big thing: American Dream is alive At the same parking booth — two decades later. Courtesy Rudra Pandey   Erica's dad, Rudra Pandey, was born in a village in Nepal to farmers. He came to Boston to earn his Ph.D. — and paid for it by working overnight shifts as a parking attendant at Commercial Wharf, a luxury condo complex. 💡 As school ended, he was looking for a job in his field. So he put a copy of his résumé on the hood of every car he parked. Someone finally took a look — and gave him a job at Fleet Bank, now Bank of America. Since then, he has scaled and sold two software companies — and given his two kids every opportunity under the sun. Rudra credits his success to the American Dream. We often hear the American Dream is dead. But whatever you think of immigration, every year people come here from around the world — and find it's attainable. Zoom out: People across borders and oceans still view the U.S. as the place to come to build a better life for their children. 70% of U.S. adults — across race, gender, political party and income — say the American Dream is achievable, Gallup polling found. Three American Dream stats to chew on: Founder frenzy: 44% of Fortune 500 companies have at least one founder who is an immigrant or the child of immigrants, according to stats from New American Economy, founded by Michael Bloomberg. Upward mobility: Even the children of immigrants who fall in the poorest quarter of the U.S. end up in the middle class, Princeton researchers found. Self-made wealth: 80% of America's millionaires — foreign- and U.S.-born — are first-generation. The bottom line: The U.S. remains the leading destination for immigrants with big dreams. 20% of all the world's immigrants are in the U.S., according to Pew Research Center. Share this story.     A message from Axios Get smarter, faster on Cryptocurrencies     Axios Crypto brings you daily updates on the most consequential trends in cryptocurrency and the blockchain. Subscribe for free.     🧠 Founder facts Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   3 notable founders who emigrated to the U.S.: David Neeleman, a Brazilian immigrant, started JetBlue. Noubar Afeyan, a Lebanese immigrant, is a co-founder of Moderna, which developed one of the coronavirus vaccines. John W. Nordstrom, who started the department store with his name, emigrated from Sweden to Seattle in the late 1800s.   Thanks for reading. Invite friends to sign up. Like this email style and format? It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Suite 1300, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. Change your preferences or unsubscribe here.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: