Jackson Free Press

"I did all the hard work, and she looks just like Scot. She's precious, but she looks just like him," Marley Le, owner of Fondren Nails, says of her now four-week-old infant, Elizabeth Ann, as she shows off pictures of her fiancé Scot holding the newborn.

Thirty-one-year-old Le, like most mothers who work outside the home, has two lives to keep under control—home and work. But the Vietnamese-born entrepreneur who moved from her home country to Bolton, Miss., with foster parents when she was 12 so she'd have a better life wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's hard being a working mother. Having a full-time job, trying to take care of a business, trying to cook and take care of the kids. It's not easy," she says, in a beguiling blend of Vietnamese and southern accents.

As Le chats, one of her customers interjects that the thought of so many motherly responsibilities begs for a nanny's help.

"Even then," Le says, "I'd still want to spend time with my kids." She looks away wistfully, pausing mid-manicure, and admits that sometimes she does fantasize about going home and putting her feet up.

The businesswoman explains that she wouldn't be able to do all that she does if it weren't for her fiancé Scot and her 5-year-old daughter Emily—who even helps clean up the shop when she's there.

"Emily's old enough to help out. She's my little helper. And Scot is so helpful. He keeps the baby, picks Emily up," she says, and then interrupts herself. "I hope he remembered to pick her up today!"

Le offers this bit of advice to single women: "I'm very independent. I like to be in control, so if I was going to be with a man, he had to be one who would add to my life. What good is a man if you have to take care of him, too?"

Though the couple and their two children live in Brandon, Le speaks highly of Jackson. "I used to live in Jackson, and I loved it here, but it was just time for a change, you know? But if it weren't for Jackson, I wouldn't have a business." And Fondren, she says, is great. "It's always so busy here, and I get to see lots of new faces and plenty of familiar ones."

As far as Mother's Day goes, Le says she doesn't expect any special gifts for the holiday. "I came from nothing. My family in Vietnam, we didn't have much, so I grew up not having a lot or expecting a lot. But I always end up getting wonderful gifts. I get lots of jewelry," she says with delight.

And that's the second piece of advice Le offers women—particularly the mothers out there. Expect a little, and get surprised with a lot. "It's always worked for me," she says.