Sueño Millonario: The Story of Carmela Moreno

• Sueño Millonario interviewed Carmela Moreno to learn her story.
• A woman who arrived in this country without speaking English and without money.
• She faced the death of her husband and more than once thought about returning.

Carmela is a woman who came from Peru to the U.S. and, like many immigrants, first started working in house cleaning.

With a cheerful tone, Carmela begins to share her story.

Moreno arrived in the U.S. in 2004. With fear, she arrived without speaking English and not knowing what to do. Also, she had no money.

The first thing she looked for was a job. Then some relatives told her about a place where she could find employment.

Carmela sleeps on the street

It was a center that hired people for cleaning staff. As she had no car, they had to walk to the train station at 11:30 at night. From there they took the bus to the place where they would work.

In that same place, on cardboard, on the street, they slept. She never forgets that the people who were with her told her that even the cardboard was prepared so that people could grab them and sleep.

At 5 in the morning, they opened the offices and gave them work. The amount that was the salary was $6.38 an hour and they worked 8 hours. They were transported in a school bus that charged them 8 dollars.

The job she was going to do was cleaning lettuce. The place was a freezer and she had to be very well wrapped up.

Other jobs

She mentioned that she also worked in printing shops assembling boxes for orders, in restaurants chopping, and in a hotel, which she remembers was extremely hard.

In the hotel, she had to clean 18 rooms a day and she left this job because she got sick due to the workload.

It was after this job that she got an opportunity in the cleaning area. She worked for a company and they sent her to clean five houses a day. They paid her $17 per house.

When she saw the potential of that job, she had the idea of starting her own business and looking for potential clients. As she did not speak English, her daughter helped her. She began to distribute cards.

Moreno prospers

At first, she still had to go look for work cleaning lettuce, but little by little it was no longer necessary, as the business prospered to the extent that she hired two more girls because they already had many houses.

Her daughter was the one who acted as a translator to communicate with the clients.

Her seed had borne fruit, but after eight years she began to think about other types of businesses.

The decision to be a realtor came when she saw in a newspaper that many people had been scammed in the real estate business. Then, she said, «I can help those people.»

Her first test she did not pass

With her idea defined, she took her realtor exam, but failed. On second time, she did it.

The year 2017 was when she registered. The first week of August, she organized her first event for first-time homebuyers.

Her goal was clear, to help. Unfortunately, she did not achieve any sales.

However, she did not stop for any reason.

Carmela’s husband dies

One day, while working, she received a call informing her that her husband had fainted at work.

He was taken to the hospital for immediate attention. The doctors told her that the prognosis was not good, and that his heart was only working at 2%.

In the end, he died. This devastated Carmela and her daughters. Here, for a moment, she thought about returning, but her determination and the support of her daughters made her stay.

She had to return to cleaning houses, without leaving the other, to be able to cover all the expenses.

Her book

With the pandemic, she thought about writing a book.

She asked a friend if an organization of women entrepreneurs would be interested in publishing it.

She called the publisher. The contract was signed. Later she began to type on a computer some memories she had already written in a notebook.

She says that this book is for anyone who wants to undertake and see that it is possible to achieve goals being an immigrant and overcoming ordeals.

The story of Carmela Moreno

Carmela Moreno is an example that with hard work it is possible to live the American dream.

She claims to be one of the best home sellers in the United States.

She has received awards from prestigious organizations and has managed to be among the top 250 Latino sellers in the United States.

Sueño Millonario has had the pleasure of sharing this story with you. The story of Carmela Moreno is one more proof that it is possible to live the American Dream with work and dedication. Until next time!