The Beauty Of Life
Photo by Maggie McNamara
The youngest of five children, I was born in South Africa to Portuguese immigrant parents. My country of birth and family ensured that I learnt to speak 3-languages and our 3-generation home, taught me respect and persistence. My parent’s determination and strong work ethic was woven into every fiber of our existence. Both of my parents come from extremely humble beginnings, so they insisted that all of their children obtained a college degree, strived to be successful in life and most importantly, that we were decent and generous human beings.
The big C (cancer) took my sister at the ripe young age of 29, but only after she had suffered from not one but two rare debilitating diseases from the very young age of 3 years old. She taught me the meaning of unrelenting courage and unremitting strength and my tenacious spirit to never give up, is fueled by her memory. The lessons learnt in our home as a tight knit family, guaranteed that I became a strong and confident individual with no apprehensions and a gumption for life.
In 2002 we took a leap of faith; married to my high school sweetheart, with our then- 4-year old daughter; we left all things familiar and moved to the United States of America. Working in corporate America, both of us learnt quickly about the culture and fell in love with the American spirit and dream. We decided almost immediately that as soon as we could become citizens of the US we would. The freedom and equality that we experienced here was extraordinary, and we knew that we had found our daughter’s forever home. It turned out that the United States would become more than our adopted home as we were blessed with our second daughter (the first American born in our family-we are very proud) and in her birth, we found our entrepreneurial spirits.
In 2004, we made another daring choice filled with uncertainty, we bought a business. Buying a small direct marketing company and growing it from a small failing business into a multi-million-dollar agency was demanding and back-breaking work, but we had an incredible team of leaders and loyal hard-working employees and year after year, through the 2008 economic crash, we grew! Finally selling in 2017 we moved into a completely new industry, manufacturing women’s clothing. It was important to us to be involved in a business that continued to support our local economy and so MADE IN THE USA was something we were proud to be a part of.
It is important to give back to the community we live in, and to teach our children the value of charity and faith. As part of my religion, I try to impart the true meaning of love and human kindness to my children through action. By helping those less fortunate and in need, by being an active member of the National Charity League, I try and instill in my daughters, that the most important thing in life is that we are decent and generous human beings in all we do.
In short, I am many things; immigrant, wife, mother, daughter, sister, but most of all I am daring, determined, confident and tenacious.