Today is June 7 and the Navigate the Chaos question to consider is “How often do you take action compared to taking notice?”
Tippi Hedren took action, revolutionized an entire industry and in so doing empowered a group of Americans looking for a way to thrive in their newly adopted country. Director Alfred Hitchcock discovered Hedren while watching her in a television commercial in 1961.
Hedren received world recognition for her work in two of his films, the suspense-thriller The Birds in 1963, for which she won a Golden Globe and the psychological drama Marnie in 1964.
When she wasn’t onscreen, Hedren was an international relief coordinator with the organization Food for the Hungry.
After Saigon fell, she was working with Vietnamese women in a refugee camp near Sacramento when several women admired her long, glossy nails. Hedren had a manicurist named Dusty at the time and asked her if she would come to the camp to meet with the women.
Dusty agreed, and Hedren flew her up to Camp Hope every weekend to teach nail technology to 20 eager women. Hedren also flew in seamstresses and typists all in the name of helping “find vocations for the Vietnamese women.” Hedren also recruited a local beauty school to help teach the women.
When they graduated, Hedren helped get the women jobs all over Southern California. Those 20 women—mainly the wives of high-ranking military officers and at least one woman who worked in military intelligence—went on to transform the industry, which is now worth about $8 billion and is dominated by Vietnamese-Americans.
Hedren's work with the Vietnamese-Americans was the subject of Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren, which won Best Documentary Short at the Sonoma International Film Festival in 2014.
French novelist and playwright Honore de Balzac noted "It is easy to sit up and take notice, what is difficult is getting up and taking action." Hedren took action. Do you?