We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Reka Vicsacsán a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Reka, thanks for joining us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Although I run a non-profit organization and not a business, I still think that approaching it as such from time to time is a must in order to be successful. The idea came a couple of years after I moved to the U.S. Just like many other immigrants I arrived with a suitcase and left most of my belongings, my family, my friends behind. I moved here not because I did not have a fulfilling life back home, or a promising future, but because I got married to someone of Hungarian descent. It just made much more sense that I come here than him to move back to Europe.

So I found myself homesick at times. I met other Hungarians who felt the same. The only opportunity to engage with the culture was events organized by a church, but these were not culture or education focused, or at least not as some of us would have desired. I slowly realized that there is a significant amount of people who would prefer engaging in activities that are centered around culture. That there were many longing to learn the language. That there are many multicultural families that experience tough times due to lacking the knowledge on how to become better intercultural communicators. And I realized that I would be able to help. I have the knowledge and the skills to do so with having a degree in both Communication Studies and Linguistics.

After doing some market research and finding a friend, Emese Andras, who trusted me enough to partner up with me and start a non-profit, the Hungarian Cultural Association of Phoenix was founded. The purpose of this organization was to respond to the needs of the community that were not previously addressed by other organizations. We are offering a different approach for those who would like to preserve this culture, as well as for those who are not Hungarian, but would like to learn more about our customs and traditions.

What I am the most excited about is the heritage language school that we run. Classes meet every other Saturday. I have always had a great passion for languages and children. Although I love my full-time job, where I also teach, I really missed the interaction with the littles. Volunteering at the Napocska Hungarian School fulfills this void.

Reka, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a Romania born Hungarian. I am also an educator. I teach communication studies at Grand Canyon University. I am a wife and a mother. I am a constant planner. And I love to volunteer for great causes.

That being said, I never dreamt of starting a non-profit organization myself. My friend and I both engaged in volunteer opportunities previously, but we did not have experience with running such an entity. As the president of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Phoenix (HCAP), I had to learn everything step by step. Being resourceful and resilient is something that I learned along the way (besides bringing some of that knowledge with me from a country that experienced hardships – the closest in time being the communist era). So I read through every single guidebook out there. I spent numerous hours on the website of the Arizona Corporation Commission. In May 2017 the HCAP was finally founded.

Our main purpose has not changed since. We focus on teaching the culture as well as the language through different events like commemorations, meetups, parties, and the largest event of the year, the Hungarian Festival of AZ (aka HunFest). We like to engage both the Hungarian community from Arizona and residents with no Hungarian ties who have an interest in our culture and wish to be part of this intercultural experience in all types of learning experiences.

Why is this important? – many could ask. These experiences and the knowledge will help people connect on a deeper, more personal level with a Hungarian family member, friend, coworker, or business partner.

Is this an easy task? By far. We had to build this from scratch with a team that did not have a lot of experience with running a non-profit. Also those who were brave enough to join me in this adventure were women with a family and kids to attend to. Most of us have full time jobs as well.

What is the drive then? I think most of us have two main reasons: our children, the future generation and the gratifying feeling of helping others with the knowledge and skills that we have acquired.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

We use many different platforms, but we only put a lot of effort in the ones that our clients/members are using. In order to figure out what these platforms are we had to do some research to find out what age group(s) we are dealing with. What platforms are these groups present on e.g. Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok? Besides a large focus on social media, we also send out monthly newsletters, we run a website where we post interactive content as well.

Brand loyalty however does not come from these interactions solely. In order to gain the loyalty of our members we had to deliver great quality programs. Great quality comes from responding to their specific needs, from respecting promises, due dates, etc. By being consistent in performance we gained their trust. After gaining their trust, one can work on maintenance and that leads to brand loyalty.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

One of my favorite books is Simon Sinek’s Start With Why, I absolutely agree with the core message of trying to find the reason for why you input all that time and energy into a business, or in our case a non-profit, for it to grow. You have to have great passion for that “why”. And this passion, this sense of purpose that inspires you will be contagious. It will inspire others, who will then follow you in your pursuit and be loyal to your brand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://hcaphoenix.org/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hcaphoenix/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hcaphoenix/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hcaphoenix/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@hcaphoenix/featured
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hcaphoenix

Image Credits
Edit Vasadi Photography, Ralph Freso (courtesy of GCU News), Sunshyne Pix