Emily Francis came to the United States

from Guatemala when she was 15 years old.

It's really you!

Hi!

Have a seat!

Let me finish the introduction.

Emily came to the United States from Guatemala

when she was 15 years old with only a sixth grade education,

and now she teaches English and is changing the lives

of her students every day.

Come on down, Emily.

And here she is.

Hi!

I heard you were in the audience.

Yeah, that's a microphone.

You can talk right into that.

That's what it is?

OK.

You did not expect to be here, so big surprise.

No.

I was over there dancing.

I'm just out of breath.

Yeah.

All right.

So your story is amazing.

Tell everyone how you immigrated, how you got here.

Yeah.

I was 15 years old when my mother decided

to bring us to Guatemala.

She was already here.

So I was 13 when she left us in Guatemala.

So she left, you're 13, and then how many siblings?

I was 13 and I have four siblings.

How old were they?

I was 13, there were 11, 9, 5, and 3.

OK.

So you're 13 years old, and for two years

you're raising them by yourself.

Yes.

We built a little shack in my neighbor's backyard,

and that's where we lived.

From 13 to 15 years old.

OK.

So at 15, then she says, I have enough money and you can come.

Yeah.

She sent a smuggler to bring us here.

And then we got busted at the airport.

Because the passports weren't--

Yeah, undocumented.

So then how did you get in?

My grandmother was here.

She was an American citizen.

She went to the airport and claimed us

as her grandchildren.

So we were able to stay here.

OK.

I hear that you learned English watching my show and friends.

Yes!

Yes!

So were you just walking up to people saying,

we'll be right back?

I mean like--

No, it was just fun.

When you're learning a second language,

and when you have so much energy,

and you're watching somebody just talking, and interacting

with other people--

you just get that.

And you learn from it.

Right.

And I think that probably-- now that you're teaching kids,

English is a second language, right?

Yes.

And your whole background probably

influences how you teach.

Yes I do.

Yeah.

When I came here, it was like they

forced for me to learn English.

Which there's nothing wrong with that.

I think this is the language we speak in America.

But they kind of forgot to work on my native language,

and work on my culture.

So that's what I do at my school.

I bring literature where my students can

read in their native language.

I make sure that they value their culture

as much as I do mine.

And where is the school?

It's Irvin Elementary School in Concord, North Carolina.

North Carolina.

OK.

The students sound amazing.

Yes, I love them.

You want to say hi to them right now?

Because Jeannie is there.

What?

Let's see how Jeannie is doing with everybody.

Oh my God!

Hi Ellen!

Hi Mrs. Francis!

Look, I see my little ones!

How's everybody doing there, Jeannie?

Oh my gosh, Ellen, we are so excited!

These kids have been so thrilled all day

to do this for you, Mrs. Francis.

And I actually have one of your students, David, here.

And he wanted to say something to you.

What did want to tell your teacher?

Thank you for teaching me to speak English

and showing me the right path and be with me all along.

All right.

We have one more surprise after this.

Emily, there's somebody who wanted to meet you.

He's the CEO and founder of Chobani.

Hamdi, come on out here.

So Hamdi, you came here-- you have a similar story.

You came here in the same year, 1994.

- '94, yes.

And the only English you spoke was, I am Hamdi,

I am from Turkey.

And I love football.

Soccer.

Soccer, that's what football is really, for you.

Yes.

I watched the wrong the show.

So her English is much better than mine.

I see.

Had you watched my show--

I watched Seinfeld.

Is that how you learned English?

Yeah.

You watch TV, watch movies.

And of course, what you've done is amazing.

And I want to remember my teachers.

I took ESL classes at SUNY Albany.

That's where teachers like yourself taught me

how to speak.

So if I am speaking well, it's their work.

If I'm not, it's my fault.

It's amazing.

So you come to America, you speak

you know basically no English.

And now you have one of the most successful companies

in the United States, if not the world, I would say.

Tell everybody how that happened.

You know, this is an amazing country.

And I found my home in upstate New York.

So I end up in the city, New York City in 1994.

And I said, I'm going to go crazy in this place.

This is too much.

And then I made it to upstate, and started working on a farm.

And I felt like home.

It reminded me where I came from.

And then I started making cheese a little bit.

You know, because that's what we did back home.

Farming and cheese making.

And one day I saw an ad that said,

"Fully equipped yogurt plant for sale."

And I throw it to the garbage can, and later on I

picked it up.

And I called the number.

It turns out this large company was closing this factory

and they were selling it as junk.

And I went there and I said, well maybe I should buy this.

And everybody said I was crazy.

My attorney said they were looking for a crazy [INAUDIBLE]

to unload this.

I mean, one of the largest companies

is getting out of the yogurt business.

Why would you go in?

What do you think you would do with it?

I just thought I should.

I bought it in 2005 with five factory workers.

And we started making the yogurt that my mother used to make.

And now?

How many employees do you have now?

We have 2000 employees.

Wow.

The Chobani Foundation wants to support their school's backpack

program.

Chobani wants to give you $100,000.

$100,000.

Chobani is celebrating their 10-year anniversary

by giving away a free cup of yogurt to everyone in America.

Go to our website to find out more.