Humans of Cranston is a recurring column showcasing the stories of Cranston community members’ community involvement, diversity, and unique life perspectives.

Ann Souvannalay is a co-owner of Thai Star Restaurant and a proud grandma of three.

I’ve been married thirty-five years and have four children, three girls, one boy. I used to be, like, a modern housewife for many, many years, and now, here I am, a businesswoman! … [I came to the US from Laos] when I was very young. When I was sixteen or seventeen, I came to Thailand, stayed in Thailand for four or five years at that time, and then we transported to the Philippines and stayed there to learn English for six or seven months, and then we got here in 1987. I went to work right away right when I came to this country, like, [within] two weeks I went to work and started as a hairdresser, and six months later, I met my husband and we got married! … Back in Laos, my family had salons, so I would be the kid in the house that would help with the salon in my family. … I came here and I thought that hairdressing was just, like, the one thing in my mind, and I would pursue that as my career at that time; I was young. But I got married first and that was it, then I started having my family, so I stopped to be with the children.

We got married and I moved to Connecticut, lived there until my first daughter went to college, and at that time, I was doing business with my sister. We were partners doing restaurants; with my sister in Providence, we had a restaurant, and then we got a partner at that time, but I’d come to help them once a week or twice a week. Then our other partner moved to Atlanta, and they really needed everybody here, so I said, “okay.” By that time, two of my daughters had gone to college already, so I said, “okay, let’s move over here,” because I had nothing to do, only my husband was working, and by that time, my husband got laid off, so I said, “okay, let’s start a new life in Rhode Island!” … I love to cook, too. I grew up with nine siblings in the family, and I’m the fifth one, so I kind of took care of the younger ones, cooking, being a parent while my mom and dad went to work, and my older siblings would be working or something. I’m in the middle, so I took care of everything, and I’ve cooked since I was six years old. I love cooking – cooking is just part of my life. I make everybody happy when I cook; people have my food and they’re happy. Sometimes the customers come in and they don’t know what to do, what to order, and then they will tell the waitress, “Ann knows what I like!” And I’m like, “who’s out there? How can I know what he likes?” but then I go, “oh! I know, I know he likes that.” … They remember the taste, but they don’t remember the name of it, so I say, “oh, okay, I got you!” It’s hard to remember everybody’s order.

I know people around here [through the restaurant], so it just so happens that when I go to the supermarket, I go to the hardware center, I go to the gym, you know, I meet people and they’re like, “oh, I know you!” and then I look at them and they’re like, “yeah, I went to Thai Star!” And then at school, too, when I go to school with my granddaughter, people are very nice. People know us and then now I start to know people. Sometimes, in the kitchen, you don’t see people, but people over here are very, very, nice. They recognize me and they come to me, and I’ve made a lot of friends.

My family is very important, and I asked them to come live with me. … When they finish school and they have a job, they have careers, and then they get married, like, no one comes back home! Just to have four kids in the house and to be busy cooking, have friends, sports, and everything together, and one goes, the second one goes, the third one goes, then I have an empty nest! I said, “someone has to come back home” (laughs). I asked everyone to come back home and they’re like, “oh, Mom, I will be there,” and finally, [my daughter] Mindy came home. I had the grandkids come, and that was the best thing. I enjoy helping them and they come to my bedroom every morning, cuddling before she goes to school, and we have fun. It brings me back to when I had my own kid in bed with me. I miss that, and now it’s come back again!

Back in my country, I loved sports, any kind of sport: I liked to play basketball, I liked dancing, I loved soccer, every type of sport, I liked it, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. When my kids grew up after I moved to this country, I just let them do whatever they wanted, and thank God they loved everything that I love. They play sports, all kinds of sports, and I’m like, “go for it! Mom wanted to do that when Mom was young, so, do it for me! Do it for me and do it good!” And they did. ... My job at that time was just to take the children to go to all the tournaments from New Jersey to New Hampshire, almost every weekend or holiday. … I was like, this is my dream come true, I love to do this, and now, it continues. So, my grandkid, you know, I love to see her dancing, I love to see her do gymnastics, play soccer, indoor soccer during the winter – she's so little, like three and a half now. It’s good to be running a family for a long time, it’s fun too! Things like that, it never happened back in my country, I think because they don’t think that women can play sports. That’s what my mom said, like, “no, you don’t play soccer, that’s just for men, for boys.” Let’s see, now I think that my daughter plays better than boys in my country!

My favorite part of living in Cranston is that I love the community, the neighbors. We look out for each other. ... When we go home at night, we see the neighbors have the lights on for us, and in the morning, we say hi to each other, and during the summer, we have cookouts together. Not just the [neighbors] next to us, like, they have friends, introduce friends, I have friends; it's just very connected. I bring the kids to the sports, and the parents are just so involved. They’re involved in everything, the parents come with the kids to play and the grandparents, too. That’s how I met a lot of the people here, they’re all so very nice. … I’d like to share my experience with young mothers that have kids and think, like, sometimes they think the kid is too young and they cannot do anything, they’re just taking care of the kids, but no, the community will help you with anything, just ask for help. I think the community will be happy to help you, just like I got help from my community. So, don’t be afraid to show up and ask for help and be connected to your neighbors and your community.

The second season of this project has been made possible by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the efforts of the OneCranston Health Equity Zone of Comprehensive Community Action, Inc. in partnership with the Cranston Herald and Timothy McFate. The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Humans of Cranston participants do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the aforementioned parties. The presented stories are voluntarily provided, unpaid, and given verbatim except for correcting grammatical errors. 

Want to nominate a Cranston resident to be featured? Email JB at jfulbright@comcap.org.