The American Dream, personified.

This morning Gabi and I interviewed a Brazilian woman. She spoke openly and candidly about the struggles and triumphs of her life. Her story was not as sad as our preliminary phone interview had suggested, but I thought it was an interesting look at immigration and why some foreigners find the difficulties of starting a new life in America worthwhile.

Twenty years ago she was in a small town in Brazil, living a sheltered and unsatisfying life. Today, she talked about her life while sitting comfortably on the porch of the small mansion she lives in on Key Biscayne with her husband, two beautiful children, and dogs that continuously tried to interrupt the interview. She is a stunning example of the American Dream.

At the age of 24, she left a fiance and a disappointed family behind to fulfill her dream of experiencing the world and living her own life. She gave up security and her family’s pride but gained independence. Fittingly, she arrived in the United States on the 4th of July, 1989. Although her first five years here were difficult, working odd jobs and dealing with an abusive boyfriend, she persevered until she was a successful business woman with a degree from Parson’s and her own clothing company. Her family was upset at first, she recalls that her father did not speak to her for six months after she moved, but she is close to them now and takes her children to Brazil every summer to spend time with their extended family.

She repeatedly emphasized balance. “For everything I’ve gotten, I’ve given something up,” she said. For instance, she got an amazing time in America, but she lost time with her younger sister who died unexpectedly after one Christmas she did not return to Brazil for. For all the wealth she has now, she spent years educating herself and working hard to get to where she is.

Now an American citizen, she maintains her Brazilian identity by speaking only Portuguese at home with her two young children (her husband is also a Brazilian immigrant), cooking Brazilian food and teaching her children family values that were ingrained in her as a child.

Tomorrow morning Gabi and I will be joining her as she drives her 5 year old son to school, so we can get a better sense of her life and hopefully talk to other sources to give our article more dimension. Until then I’ll be working on a rough draft of an article about an inspiring immigration success story.