From refugee to Salon No. 5 entrepreneur in Portsmouth

PORTSMOUTH – Sorassa Soeur sits in her beauty salon, holding Coco Bean, a French bulldog, talking about her 16 years in business at five different locations in Portsmouth.

Her success story started with spending the first seven years of her life in a refugee camp, escaping with her family, being hosted to come to America, excelling in school and hard work, ethics instilled in her by her family. She is humble and says she found her passion, making people feel great about themselves.

“The name of the refugee camp in Thailand was called Khao I Dang,” said Soeur. “The camp opened in 1979 right after the Vietnam War (with Cambodia) ended. The camp is on the border of Cambodia. We escaped Cambodia and would travel during the night. There was one incident that almost killed my whole family. I was just an infant and I let out a cry. My dad had to put his hand over my mouth the whole…