EP. 05 / Morocco
Souad Dreyfus shares how leaving Morocco for America with $500 led to a new life, a career in fertility services, and a changing definition of success.
Semantic Brief
Souad Dreyfus describes leaving Morocco for the United States in 1998 after receiving a visa through a lottery program. She arrived with $500, little English, and a desire for opportunity and financial independence. After reaching the U.S., she worked as a nanny while attending school and learned to navigate a culture very different from the family-centered environment she knew in Morocco. Dreyfus later worked at a hospital, where an encounter with a fertility specialist led to a job and eventually to her founding Open Arms in 2003. In the interview, she discusses early business mistakes, hiring and delegation, the effects of COVID-era travel restrictions on international fertility clients, and the emotional demands of supporting families through infertility and loss. She also reflects on being an immigrant woman in business, her relationship with her Moroccan family, and how her definition of success shifted from financial freedom toward impact and helping others.
Guest Entity
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Episode Notes
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Dreyfus describes arriving in the United States from Morocco in 1998 with $500, little English, and a desire for opportunity and financial independence. She recounts applying for a visa lottery program after encouragement from a college professor, telling her protective father she planned to leave, and beginning her American life by working as a nanny while attending school.
She discusses learning English and adapting to American culture, including differences in social conventions and family life. She says that being an immigrant woman and business owner also meant confronting situations in which she felt people did not take her seriously.
Dreyfus explains that while working at a hospital she met a fertility specialist who offered her a job. She says she worked for him for about three years before deciding to move beyond the clinical side of infertility and starting Open Arms in 2003.
She recalls her first client experience as difficult and describes early entrepreneurship as a process of making mistakes and learning from them. She identifies trusting the wrong people, delaying difficult decisions, and struggling to delegate as important business lessons.
Dreyfus says COVID-era travel restrictions created major challenges for international fertility clients, including intended parents who could not travel to the United States for births.
She discusses the emotional demands of fertility work, including conversations involving miscarriage, failed embryo transfers, stillbirth, and other forms of loss. She says experience taught her that caring deeply for clients also requires making space for herself and her family.
Reflecting on Morocco and her family, Dreyfus says she takes pride in becoming financially independent and supporting her family. She also describes maintaining elements of Moroccan family culture while raising her children in the United States.
Dreyfus says her understanding of success has changed over time. Initially, success was connected to financial freedom and security. Today, she says it is more closely tied to impact, community, helping other people, and building something larger than herself.
FAQ
In the interview, Dreyfus says she came to the United States from Morocco in 1998.
Dreyfus says in the interview that she arrived with $500 and a small bag.
She describes opportunity and independence, particularly financial independence, as central motivations. She says she wanted to build something she could call her own.
Dreyfus says a college professor encouraged her to apply for a U.S. visa lottery program. She applied despite not initially planning to move to America and later received a visa.
According to Dreyfus, she initially stayed with a contact, found work as a nanny, and attended school.
Dreyfus says she was working at a hospital while attending school when she met a fertility specialist who offered her a job. She says she worked for him for about three years before starting Open Arms in 2003.
She identifies trusting the wrong staff, vendors, or professional partners as a major mistake. She also says waiting too long to make difficult decisions and struggling to delegate created problems.
Dreyfus says COVID was a major challenge because travel restrictions affected international clients, including people who were unable to travel to the United States for births.
She says she still believes in the American Dream because she believes opportunity exists, while emphasizing that success in America is not easy.
She says success initially meant financial freedom and security. Later, she began defining it through impact: helping people, contributing to her community, and building something larger than herself.
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