The Story

Ramier Shaikh is one of many who tied his dreams to the promise of the American economy. He left India in 1996, full of ambition to become successful, get married and support his aging father back home. He earned two degrees in engineering and quickly rose up the ranks in the auto industry. He also started a lawn care business on the side, employing immigrants and refugees. Then the dream ended. As he tells Dick Gordon, Ramier is losing his job, and may now pursue his dreams in another country. Also in this episode: the Forest Hills fiasco.

Students at San Jose State University started a campaign to raise the city's minimum wage, and successfully persuaded the city to impose a 25% minimum wage increase, from $8 to $10. Student Elisha St. Laurent tells Dick Gordon she's spent years struggling to support herself on a minimum wage salary. 

If there is a mecca for American foodies, it's probably Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' successful restaurant in Berkeley, Calif. As a college student at UC Berkeley, Samin Nosrat saved money for a year to eat one dinner there. It was love at first bite. Samin landed a job as a buser, and worked her way up to line cook. When her mentor, the head chef at Chez Panisse for 16 years, decided to open a restaurant a couple of miles away, she became his sous chef.

Leslie Hampel lost her consulting job this fall after her firm lost some of its biggest clients to the financial industry collapse. Leslie was a high performer who routinely put in 16 hours days. So when she got the news that she was laid off, she descended into a spiral of self doubt. But one critical meeting weeks later helped her get her confidence back. Now, Leslie sees there may have been a bright side to losing her job.