Her event helped get Las Vegas on the map for top places to celebrate Chinese New Year in the United States.

Jan-Ie Low, Founder of Chinese New Year in the Desert, is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

Born in Malaysia and raised in Tacoma, a family trip to Las Vegas inspired her to move here and open a restaurant.

But at that restaurant, she served a whole lot more than food, which led to the launch of her consulting firm and the creation of a city-wide event now in its 14th year.

Also a former commissioner for the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, Jan-Ie Low, Executive Producer of Chinese New Year in the Desert, thank you for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Jan-Ie Low) Thank you for having me here.

-You wear a lot of hats; you have a lot of titles.

But behind it all is this passion for helping businesses succeed.

Where does that stem from?

-Amber, I think it comes from my parents.

My parents are both entrepreneurs.

You know, they like to do what's the impossible.

And I think kind of runs in the family.

-What was it that they were involved in businesswise?

-Yeah, so my parents were into books.

So my dad was actually have a business called Books for Asia.

So this is back in Malaysia, in Kuala Lumpur, when we were younger.

So I, you know, I grew up, just remember, we're always surrounded by books.

And, you know, when you're little kids who really don't know what your parents really did?

Except books.

But little do we find out that he was actually a distributor for the schools, for publishing, for bookstores.

So and you know what?

I can just know that every time when we go somewhere, there's always pitching books.

-Did you take advantage of those books?

-You know what?

Absolutely.

Love 'em.

-Okay.

How long did you live in Malaysia before you moved to the US?

Yeah, we moved.

My family migrated, immigrated to the US when I was 10 years ago.

Because, you know, just like in Asia and everywhere else, coming to America is the American dream, and my parents made it happen.

So we came here, moved here, and I will tell you, I didn't speak a lick of English at all, but came out here and love it.

-Can you take yourself back to that 10-year-old girl and what that felt like?

It had to be scary.

-Absolutely scared, you know, especially we call English a second language, right?

Just know how to say hello, goodbye.

But it's just such a-- America is such a beautiful country, right, from water to the mountains and everywhere else.

So, scared, but excited.

-Do you remember any of your initial memories arriving here?

-Yeah.

We came here.

There's-- I have three siblings.

I just remember that we stuck together a lot.

Right?

-Maybe not so friendly back home, but when you need each other-- -Absolutely.

-And how were you able to get to the United States?

-You know, my uncle, my mom's side, was in the military.

So he was a psychiatrist, so he actually sponsor us to Little Rock, Arkansas.

Can you believe that?

So that was in the late '80s, mid-'80s, excuse me.

So then he got transferred to Tacoma, Washington, and so we got to transfer with him, and that's where I kind of grew up.

-That was your mom's side of the family, right?

-Absolutely.

-We spoke off camera before this, and you told me, thinking back on your mom, you thought, Man, how did she do that?

-Incredible.

She is this incredible, yes.

I still don't know.

You know, I have one son.

I'm like, How did she do it with four?

-Yeah, and make that move.

What influence has she had on you?

-Oh, you know what?

Discipline, hustle, appreciation, right?

I think waking up in the morning, being healthy and being able to function is a blessing.

So never take anything for granted.

-How did she teach you that lesson about the appreciation and-- -You know, I think it's just her spirit, everything about her.

She just, you know, you get up, you get going.

It doesn't matter what it is.

There's a mission, there's a focus, and that's what we do.

-Was she part of the restaurant that you opened here in Las Vegas?

-Absolutely, yes.

She has-- Mom loves to cook.

Dad too, but Mom especially, right?

Ever since she's always like, you know, I want to open a restaurant.

I want to open a restaurant.

But I'm like, seriously, Mom?

Do you know how hard that is?

But there was an opportunity, a window of opportunity when we came to visit Vegas.

This is way back then, I want to say 2003-4?

We came for a vacation, but we were craving Asian food, right?

We weren't here for that long, but still, always, we're always looking for Asian food.

So we're like, Maybe there's a Chinatown down here, and there weren't.

So the dream, as a family, as crazy entrepreneurs who were like, Let's get-- let's open a restaurant that can serve the people like us who are looking for Asian food.

-And prior to doing that, you had, I think, 12 years' experience in the corporate world in human resources.

What kind of impact do you think that had on you?

-Discipline, right?

How did corporate, you know-- there's a procedure or standard.

I remember, I started the job as a graduate from University of Washington.

You've got to dress the part at that time.

I may look young, but I'm like, I'm ready for this.

But the lesson I've learned from my mentor is always keep a jacket in the office, because you never know when you're going to get called into a CEO meeting or president's meeting.

Always grab a jacket.

Doesn't matter what you have on, put it on and show up.

-I probably could utilize that advice.

Who was your mentor?

That is very important to you, to mentor others.

-You know what?

I will say, Ron Tilden is one of them, and he's still a very part of a big part.

You know, I always believe in-- and Mom, obviously, right?

I mean, we always say our parents because you grew up.

That's the standard, what they set.

But I have many mentors from in the beginning till now today, because we change, life change.

And today I want to say is my great community, my strong, I call them my women, power women, that I can just actually just pick up the phone and call them and say, I'm in this situation.

What should I do, and what should I not do?

And not just female.

I always also say that get a male mentor, because guys think differently than women.

It's always great to have a full circle of mentors.

-And perspectives.

-Absolutely.

-Did you say Ron Tilden?

-Ron Tilden.

Yeah, I got to do a shout-out to him.

He was a CFO of a small dot-com company when I started at a dot-com company in Seattle, yeah.

-Okay.

So the restaurant, Satay, how long was it open for, 18 years?

-18 years.

Yes, ma'am.

Yes.

-And it was successful.

-Well, I would like to think so.

It was, yeah.

We just had great-- I mean, it was a great place to meet good people that come in and out, from visitors to locals.

But what's really great is I have wonderful staff, which became my extended family.

-So 2021, Trip Advisor had written it up as one of-- what was their, their listing of your restaurant?

-I think it was Top 10.

I don't want to brag about that.

Yes.

-But then the very next year, you close.

-Yeah, we did, because it's a challenging, challenging time.

I think 2022, as we all-- we just came out of COVID, right?

How do I say it?

Nobody wanted to work, whether or not it was for health reasons or whatever, the incentives for them to stay home longer.

All that was a nightmare.

Supply chain was a nightmare.

I was-- I cannot tell you, Amber.

I was driving to different markets to try to find coconut milk.

Or there was a Boba scarcity, right?

So it was, it was time.

It was time.

We wanted to close in a higher note, which means here we are, 18 great years, and that's this stop.

-But during your time being open, you told me, again off camera, that you were providing business advice to people in the community.

How did that come to be?

Your customers come in, and why are they asking you for advice?

-Well, I think, again, a lot of people see that only a restaurant is a glamorous thing to do.

I think I've convinced more people not to open a restaurant.

No, but seriously, they know that I have a business background.

And, you know, we always chitchat, not just about the sports or the weather, but we really talk about, How's the economy impacting everyone?

And when folks learn that, you know, I left corporate America to pursue entrepreneurship, they're like, You know what?

I've always wanted to do that as well.

So what do you think?

So that's how it leads.

-To your current company, which is?

-Golden Catalyst.

It's a consulting company, and we do business consultation, as well event-- as well as event planning.

-And your signature event is Chinese New Year in the Desert, in its 14th year now.

-Yes.

-Wow.

-I think that too.

You know what?

Again, going back, giving credit to the champions, a few, as well as the community, right, because Vegas is a great city to be.

Everybody wants to be here.

And since the Chinese New Year, or as others called it, Lunar New Year, is such a big festival and celebration.

Why not have a big citywide event?

-And how was it being celebrated in Las Vegas prior to this event?

-You know, I don't-- Vegas is relatively new, right?

And I think with the, speaking with LVCVA, they were just basically partnering with tour groups and supporting their private events.

And I remember this is, what, 13 more years now, Rafael Villanueva from LVCVA.

Love him.

He's now with Travel Nevada.

We were just-- he was in the restaurant.

We were chitchatting, and I'm like, Rafael, you know what?

I think it's great that, you know, LVCVA is, you know, catering to the tour groups and all, but I said, there's really a market here.

We really need to do a citywide event.

And we did it.

-Wow.

-Yes.

-So many important things have resulted out of this celebration.

I think one is, you told me, that a lot of the people that come have no idea about Chinese New Year and thus learn about it.

The other is that the artists who are performing are actually being paid, which to me sounds like, shouldn't they be?

-Yeah.

-Explain why that is kind of rare.

-So in Las Vegas, we have wonderful, wonderful community folks who just want to gather together and preserve the culture, but they are not into the marketing side.

They don't understand how to ask for money, right?

So I think it is kind of nice coming together as a business major and in marketing, and I love arts because I can't sing or dance, so I would love to hire them and to perform at events.

-I think you told me they asked you, Will you feed our group?

And you say, I won't just feed you, I'll pay you as well.

-Absolutely, because they are that talented.

-And how do you explain Lunar New Year to people who are unfamiliar with it?

-Yeah, well, it's one of the biggest celebration, especially in China, Malaysia, Singapore.

And we don't just celebrate one day like the traditional American New Year.

We celebrate for 14 days, believe it or not.

So for me just to do three days, I feel like I'm ripping off the true meaning of Lunar New Year.

But it is just a come-together as family enjoying and celebrating the new hope, the new anything and everything.

-And the new lunar calendar.

-Absolutely, yes.

-I want to squeeze this in.

We mentioned that you are a former commissioner on that White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

You were on that commission under the Trump administration during his first Presidency.

That, in his few days of being in office now, has been eliminated.

What are your thoughts on that?

-Yeah, I think it's no surprise for us, just because when President Trump-- I adore him, by the way.

Just came back from the inauguration.

It was fantastic.

It was freezing, but fantastic.

With President Trump's message was he wanted-- got to keep in mind what he's doing, right, he's eliminating illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity.

And for somebody who is came from Malaysia to coming to America and getting my American citizen, it resonates with me because it really true, going back, merit-based opportunity.

So there's a lot of AAPIs, we call Asian American Pacific Islanders, that have a lot of hard work and merit, and we can't wait to show that.

I mean, think about this.

Take sports, for example.

How many Asian American Pacific Islanders do you see playing basketball?

Hardly any, right?

Do we pull a DEI card on that?

We don't, right?

Because to us, you gotta know how to throw a three-point.

So it's very controversial, but we understand that, because it's merit-base.

-Jan-Ie Low, thank you for your perspective and for joining Nevada Week In Person.

-Thank you.

♪♪♪