The Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) announced that one of its members, Taylor Hoang, has won the 2015 National Restaurant Association Education Foundation’s Faces of Diversity Award. The award honors diverse members of the industry who have achieved success in the face of adversity, and who embody the American Dream.
Hoang is an entrepreneur and leader in the Asian and business communities of Seattle. She started a mortgage brokerage firm specializing in securing loans for minorities while attending University of Washington. She has created several businesses in Vietnam, including facilitating small coffee farmers for international export and forming several internet companies that better serve the Vietnamese market.
At age 28, she opened Pho Cyclo Café, which she has grown to five successful locations and established Lavender Jade Catering. She serves as executive director of Ethnic Business Coalition, a nonprofit committed to the long-term growth, sustainability, and success of immigrant and minority-owned small businesses in Washington.
“Taylor is a person of extremely high integrity,” said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the WRA. “She is always making sure voices of small business, women business owners and ethnically owned restaurants are heard, not only in the City of Seattle, but in the region as well. We are so excited that she is being recognized and honored with this award.”
Hoang will formally receive the Faces of Diversity Award at a gala dinner in Washington, D.C., in April.
