Mini Profile - Lois Coy

Lois Coy, hunches over a cane looking at the concrete floor as she prepares to cross 5th Ave., in Jackson Heights. At some point she turns around and smiles at me. I ask her for directions to a nearby church. "Mass started," she says. "But do you want to join me for dinner instead?" The white LCD display flashes the “walk” sign and I follow her to her favorite diner. Employees greet her by name and sit us in her usual spot. At 91, Coy, a retired businesswoman talks about her life lucidly. Her family came from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts with the original settlers in 1620 and later settled in New York in the 1800’s. Her brother fought in WWII; she never married or had kids but always volunteered for the neighborhood’s Methodist Church. In the mornings she buys coffee at the neighborhood's Dunkin' Donuts just to listen to conversations in languages that she'll never learn but that sound nice to her ears. “I love to learn about their traditions and vice-versa,” she says. We order rice pudding and she asks me if have heard of Che Guevara. "Have you seen the bike diaries?" she asks. "I saw that. I even bought the book. The only thing I didn't like was the language. I never heard that growing up..." The bill arrives and she snaps it away from the table. "You're my guest today and I wont hear about it,” she says taking out dollar bills from her purse.

Mini Profile: Long gone are the washing dishes days

Freddy Gonzales’ story is the perfect example of an immigrant success story. In just six months he was promoted from washing dishes in a restaurant and juice shop on Bay Ridge 5th Avenue, in Brooklyn to actually managing it.

It all happened in just six months. “It is all about working hard,” Gonzales said while preparing one of his famous protein shake. “It makes you move up as quickly as you can imagine.” When he to New York from a small village on the US-Mexican border, six years ago Gonzales enrolled in English and management classes. Impressed with the speed with which he was learning and improving, the owner of the restaurant promoted him to manager. It also helped that the former manager decided one day to quit without prior notice. “I do everything now,” Gonzales said with pride and a wide smile.