I'm married to the American Dream!!

When my hubby moved to the US 10 years ago, he spoke very little English. The first 4 months of our marriage, he didn't have a job as we waited for his visa paperwork and Green Card to come through. While he was home during that time, he taught himself English by watching day time television and hanging out with as many of our church friends as he could.

By August when he found a job, his English was remarkably better and he was able to do just fine at work. He moved from that entry-level position as a stock room associate at a large, members-only buying club called "The Flower Factory" (think Hobby Lobby), to working in construction with a guy from our church. As he has in each and every thing he's ever done, he excelled every place he went. His bosses could say nothing but good things and he continued to find favor with management.

We were crazy, but knew we were supposed to be in NYC, so in the fall of 2003, we moved out here with some savings and that was it. Neither of us had any prospects for employment and neither of us had any idea what we'd be doing.

I quickly found a job as a temp employee at Snapple and he found a job as a stock room associate at J. Crew at their Rockefeller store (largest store in the company). It was a seasonal job for the holidays with the promise that if he exceeded expectations, he might be considered for part time employment after the holidays were over.

That January, he was offered a position to help open the new Columbus Circle location. It was definitely a offer for permanent employment and he received a raise on top of that. I couldn't have been prouder.

Over the next 7 years, he went from part time associate to full time to assistant manager to manager and then ended up full circle back at Rockefeller Center as their Visual Merchandise Manager. On the level of merchandising at the store level, he'd reached the top of his game!

Two years ago, he was approached by the Corporate office to join their merchandising team and manage women's accessories on a national level. It was the ideal job as it went from a 6:00 a.m.  to 3 p.m. and overnights at least 4-5 times per month job to Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00 p.m. and off all major holidays instead of working, job! It was what he'd been working for the past 7 years at the Company.

Two weeks ago, he received another promotion and raise. This time to take over merchandising at the corporate level of all their specialty stores nationwide. It comes at a perfect time as we'll soon be moving in to the City with added expenses.

He is living out the American Dream and it's so exciting to watch him!

What started out as a seasonal, part time position has turned into a career and he keeps growing in the company.

I couldn't be more proud of my man!!