I am originally from Austria, but I have been here in the United States for about 10 years. Now on a green card, I am the founder and CEO of Macro House, a company that provides housing for people who are new to Austin. We have about five full-time and five part-time employees right now and provide housing for about a hundred people.

I moved here the first time in 2003, as an exchange student in high school. I lived with a wonderful family in Houston that I’m still in touch with. They actually made me fall in love with the U.S. I always did want to come here since I was little, so I came back for college, and then after that I had to leave because of the visa situation, but I came back. I had to reapply later on for an H1-B, so now I have a green card, but I always felt like here in the United states that, even though I do have small accent still and I was not born here, I never actually feel different than anybody else. I feel completely a part of life here. It’s my country.