Till date, the Green Card Lottery also knows as the Diversity Visa Lottery has been helping many foreign nationals achieve their “American Dream.” Out of all other countries, America is the country that attracts people from across the globe to a great extent. Here is the story of Brazilian born Rudolfo Goncalves, who achieved what many just dream of, through the Green Card Lottery.
According to CNBC.com, Goncalves won the Green Card Lottery and came to New York City when he was 24. He now owns a successful business named Sweet Corner Bakeshop in New York. However, he did not achieve it overnight; it took him nearly a decade.
It was when his sister told him about the lottery program that he applied for it, just like millions of other foreigners. However, he was lucky enough to win the lottery and move to the U.S. which is still a dream to many. His life in Brazil was an entirely different one as a web designer. But he won the lottery in 2004 and left behind his home town for a new beginning in the U.S.
He faced a lot of challenges as it was not that easy to find a job in the U.S. in his old profession, web designing. That was because he was still learning English and was not good at it. So he started to work at a restaurant, where he cleaned and cooked. He had developed his drawing skills as a child in Brazil and his interest in painting helped him do floral designs for a restaurant in Manhattan.
Goncalves and his wife Patricia shared the Brazilian honey bread, that they tried after seeing it on a cooking show, with their friends after which they started getting orders for desserts for parties and weddings. He said that it was just a hobby till one of his customers encouraged him to take part in a cake competition with BRIDES magazine. The three-tiered pink floral cake he made was named one of America’s beautiful cakes and he won the competition. After that, he started receiving a lot of orders. He and his wife took some orders and did them from their apartment kitchen. But it was not easy to do it from home.
One of Goncalves’s loyal customers offered to front him cash to open up a storefront in New York City. He then found the perfect spot for his physical bakery, Sweet Corner Bakeshop in Manhattan’s West Village. While still working at Madison Park, Goncalves also took care of his own business. The business was slow at first, but then he won over customers by making his cakes taste as good as they looked.
Sweet Corner Bake Shop is now well known for Sea Salt Chocolate Chip and Red Velvet Nutella Bomb cookies. Goncalves, the owner of Sweet Corner Bakeshop is famous for his elegant cake designs. He learned a lot from the pastry chefs who he worked with. Goncalves is successful now but he is thankful for all what the U.S. has offered him. He is now living his “American Dream” which was out of reach, years ago.
