Jewish Family & Career Services is proud to honor our MOSAIC Award recipients. These five individuals who call Louisville home have made significant contributions in their professions and our community. To date, JFCS has recognized almost 70 refugees, immigrants and first-generation Americans who make our community richer and stronger for their work. We are excited to have Neeli Bendapudi, Di Tran, Berta Weyenberg, Kaveh Zamanian and Bapion Ziba join the ranks of these remarkable individuals.
This is Bapion Ziba’s story.
Bapion first came to Louisville more than a decade ago. He permanently resettled in Louisville from his home, Burkina Faso in West Africa, in 2015. Growing up, he was raised by his father and did not know his mother for the first 16 years of his life.
Bapion learned about cooking from his grandmother and aunts, a tradition he continues with his own children today. They encouraged Bapion to pursue his love of cooking and from an early age, he would put together his own menu and prepare dishes – a precursor to managing successful restaurants. Bapion continued to grow his culinary skills while in boarding school, choosing to cook for himself rather than eat at the school’s cafeteria.
Bapion’s formal culinary training and early career was in France. Over his career, Bapion helped launch restaurants there and in Casablanca, Morocco. After coming to Louisville, he began catering. When he decided to pursue his dream of opening his own restaurant, he connected with Jewish Family & Career Services. Through JFCS Navigate, Bapion received business advising, took marketing courses and worked with our microloan program to launch Ziba’s Bistro at the Logan Street Market.
Today, Ziba’s Bistro is a thriving local favorite where you can experience internationally inspired dishes with the flavors of West Africa fused with French, Italian, and American cuisine.
Additionally, Bapion continues to pay it forward by volunteering with the Burkinabe community and African community groups by supporting other immigrants who have moved to Louisville. Bapion has also returned to his home community in Burkina Faso to purchase pumps and irrigation equipment to help farmers as well as mentored aspiring chefs who can learn from his experience.
Like many JFCS clients, Bapion sought help and support to realize and pursue his lifelong dream of owning his own restaurant. At JFCS Navigate, we believe every entrepreneur deserves the opportunity to pursue their dreams and every day we empower them to find their own pathway to economic self-sufficiency.
Learn more about our other MOSAIC Award Winners and about the services and values JFCS provides to expand possibilities for each person and every family in Greater Louisville.
Jewish Family & Career Services is proud to honor our MOSAIC Award recipients. These five individuals who call Louisville home have made significant contributions in their professions and our community. To date, JFCS has recognized almost 70 refugees, immigrants and first-generation Americans who make our community richer and stronger for their work. We are excited to have Neeli Bendapudi, Di Tran, Berta Weyenberg, Kaveh Zamanian and Bapion Ziba join the ranks of these remarkable individuals.
This is Di Tran’s story.
Di Tran was 12 years old when he fled Vietnam with his parents and three sisters to begin a new life. Knowing no one in the United States, they reached out to Catholic Charities who sponsored them to come to Louisville. His parents worked factory jobs, sleeping about five hours a night for five years until they saved enough to build USA Nails on Broadway.
After school, Di worked in the store every day. He went on to University of Louisville and earned a master’s degree in computer engineering and sciences while helping his mother to expand the number of nail salons they had in Louisville.
Di worked at UPS, Humana and other companies in Louisville all the while expanding the family business. Ultimately, with his mother, he started the Louisville Beauty Academy and since its opening in 2016, have trained more than 260 people in cosmetology, nail technology, aesthetic.
Today, Di Tran runs Di Tran Enterprises, LLC which owns and operates licensed private post-secondary schools, as well as a variety of small businesses in the greater Louisville metropolitan area.
Additionally, Di serves as the President and Chief Academic Officer for the Louisville Institute of Technology, a post-secondary education institution he founded with the mission to prepare students and apprentices through intense, immersive practical training so that they may qualify for and attain employment in high-demand information technology technical fields and professions.
Di’s life story demonstrates the power of working hard to achieve goals, which is something JFCS Career Services clients do every day. Like Di, our clients rely on their own talents and strengths, receiving support from our career counselors along the way, to make and achieve their goals.
Learn more about our other MOSAIC Award Winners and about the services and values JFCS provides to expand possibilities for each person and every family in Greater Louisville.