I’m Miby. I come from Korea. I came to United States when I was 11 and landed in Honolulu, Hawaii, grew up there and moved to New York City when I was 28. Did some business there and eventually kept moving north and east and ended up in Chenango County. So I had a place here for a long time from the eighties, late eighties. But what made me decide to really make this a place of my residence was the idea that I could bring something to this county that didn’t exist. And I used to bring lots of things from the city. Whenever I did come for the weekend before I became a resident, everyone used to ask me, “Why don’t you open a business here?” And somehow I guess it stuck and there was the right building, the right labor, there was some ease of equipment acquisition. So it just came to be on a thirty-minute decision.
And so we opened a authentic French bakery in 2006 on the south side of city of Norwich, and eventually decided to take over a restaurant in the city of Norwich as well, thinking that introducing authentic cuisine from other places in the city of Norwich in Chenango County would be something fun to do. And it wasn’t available here, and it’s something that I actually crave living here.
So I guess it’s really the immigrant mentality that led me to this place to try many different things. It’s not so much about the reaching certain goal or to define success, but really just the process of trying and seeing where it goes, just tackling it as things open up or happen. So in 2009, I came to take care of two different businesses in town, and I actually was very welcomed by many of the people that I have met.
So I didn’t know Chenango County very well for 20 years other than just my neighbor. And the people immediately around me were wonderful. I didn’t see too many people that were of color or Asian, but I didn’t feel anything, prejudices or something that people talk about a lot. When I did get into the community in full force, I have heard from people that it’s because that Asian woman now owns these things we’re not going there anymore. Nobody said that to me, to my face, but I’ve been told that. But it’s something that I don’t dwell on and nobody has really to my face been rude or nasty or anything like that so far. If anything, I guess it’s the business that I have chosen to do or what they feel that I contribute to the community here, bringing the diverse cuisine that most of the time it’s appreciation and gratitude I get from people mostly.
I don’t know how it would’ve been if I didn’t do those businesses because it is not easy to really get assimilated or be invited into somewhere like this where they are generation after generation of same families and they all know each other. But yet, especially since COVID, there’s so much influx of outsiders. So even my old-time customers, when they come into my establishment now they say, “I don’t know half the people that are in this place where I used to know everyone when I walked in.” So I think the population is changing. Definitely the French bakery is very busy and I think we feel the initial influx because it’s the kind of place that newcomers seek out. So my experience has been good, but I think it’s related to what I’ve done rather than just a normal coming here, buying a house, and just going to work somewhere from eight to five.
And also just being one of the very few Asians here a lot of people recognize me and they’re always friendly, so I have a very welcomed feeling being here. The other thing that I felt was all the local people didn’t support my business. It’s very strange to have their grandchildren or their children who’ve gone away to college or live somewhere else and then come back home for summer or something. They would say, “Oh, we have a French bakery in town,” but they actually never come. It’s the children that all almost force them to try this. I don’t know what the resistance was, whether sometimes I guess just not having been exposed to it is just the reason enough. But now I see that the people who used to dismiss me or dismiss the business would say we have a French bakery in our town, or something with a little bit of … Yeah.
My venues now are an instrument to my connection to community, rather than just doing business as all the other businesses are. I really come to do networking and gotten to know a lot of people.
