Rancho Resident You Should Know: Thuy Huynh Tresner

Thuy Huynh Tresner’s modest storefront popped in to Rancho Cordova last October with little fanfare. During a time when many people were watching their pocketbooks with concern, her small bridal shop didn’t garner as much attention as it might have in years past. Tresner, however, is hoping that will change soon; her rags-to-riches-to-rags fairytale is depending on it for a happy ending.

Tresner, 39, opened Elegant Designs Bridal on Sunrise Boulevard near White Rock Road as a last-ditch effort to stay afloat in her adopted country. Her now ex-husband brought her to America as his bride just 13 years ago and treated her to a life
she could never have imagined in her small Vietnamese hometown.

Tresner’s beginnings in Vietnam were humble at best. As a child she didn’t have any toys to play with, so she would draw her own paper dolls and draw clothing for her hand-made models to wear. Years later while attending Huong Duong, a school in her hometown, she rediscovered the passion she’d once had for making clothes for her paper dolls.

“I was thinking, ‘Wow, I can make clothes for doll, I can make clothes for me!’ That’s how I started,” she said in a still thick Vietnamese accent.

In 1996 she got an opportunity of a lifetime. Her former husband sponsored her and brought her to the U.S. to be his wife. Seven years later they had a daughter, Angelina, who is now 6 years old.

“It’s a fairy tale, a very beautiful story,” she said, “but it just didn’t work out the way we planned.”

The Tresner’s lived a lavish lifestyle, far removed from Thuy’s humble roots in Vietnam. Together they owned several houses in the Sacramento area and operated several businesses, including Fitness System, a 24-hour fitness center in Lodi. Last July, however, her husband filed for divorce.

The divorce has left her with little more than memories of the privileged life she had been brought in to from Vietnam. “We used to live in an 11,000-square-foot home,” she said. “He took over everything and I have absolutely nothing right now.”

Despite her setbacks, something good has come from the divorce. Once her husband filed, she felt prompted to try and live her dream of being a professional designer.

“When we separated I had no money coming in at all,” she said. “I decided I would open a wedding store and designing store
because that’s what I’m good at.”

Getting her name known as a designer has been difficult. When she first opened, she made business cards with a coupon on the back and passed them out to businesses around her shop. She also placed ads on Craigslist to try and make her business known in Sacramento’s competitive bridal market. One cold Saturday earlier this year, Tresner could be seen in a hand-made white skirt hammering small cardboard signs into the grass in front of her store.

Tresner is hoping her small attempts at advertising will pay off, but she knows that the recession is making it difficult for her to recoup her money.

“I love to meet people, and I love to help everybody out right now,” she said. “Especially because of the economy, I try to pass on most of the savings for everyone.”

So far, though, she has found so much satisfaction in her work that it makes the struggle worthwhile. “I don’t make nothing right now but it makes me feel good. I am doing something good,” she said.

Tresner’s fairytale has gone from poverty to unimaginable wealth and back again. For now, her hopes are riding on her small, unassuming storefront to make her ending one that will be happily ever after. In the meantime, she’d like to give a little advice to anyone who might be going through something similar.

“I want to leave a message for all the women out there: Be strong and don’t give up your hope.”

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Posted by Anne Lowe on Apr 27 2009. Filed under Business, Viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.