Albert Lulushi

From developing information technology applications to taking a front seat to history, Lulushi uses his skills  and experience to bring together the cultures of his native Albania and his adoptive country, the United States.

Albert Lulushi was born and raised in Tirana, Albania, though his family is originally from the southern town of Libohova, where they still own their ancestral home. Growing up, Lulushi experienced firsthand the oppression of the Communist regime, especially after 1985, when his brother, Astrit, escaped to the West and joined the Voice of America staff. Inspired by example, he fled Albania in July 1990, along with thousands of fellow citizens, by entering the foreign embassies in Tirana and requesting asylum. Their act of open defiance was the first display of opposition to the regime—the first crack in its armor— and led to its downfall in 1992 and the eventual transition of Albania to Democracy.