By Olivia Fuller
for La Raza del Noroeste
It’s well past closing time at Hoffman’s Fine Cakes and Pastries , and the last few customers for the evening trickled out an hour ago. But Eugenia Velez is hardly close to done for the day.
Due to planned construction on the Kirkland shopping center that Hoffman’s is currently located in, the bakery is in the midst of a move to a new location in Redmond . For Velez, who owns Hoffman’s with her husband, the move means early mornings and late nights every day of the week to prepare the new store for service.
Velez works hard. And working hard is how she has gone from leaving her life in Colombia with little more than her family and a work visa to being a United States citizen and small business owner in 15 years. The new project of moving locations, she says, reminds her of the risks she took throughout her own immigration experience.
The journey from Colombia to Washington
In the late 1990s, Velez and her husband, Carlos Covelli, began feeling unsafe in their home in Cali, Colombia as violent groups gained a presence through attacks and kidnappings. Mostly, Velez became concerned not only for the safety of her family, but also for the future of her daughters, Jimena and Isabella.
“I didn’t want them to become used to [the violence],” Velez said. “I wanted my children to have a better life and opportunity. We left our life there. We had a good, standard, middle class life there. We did this for the future for our kids.”
Covelli had a friend in the Seattle area that offered him a job there installing roofs. The security of a job allowed him, Velez, and their two daughters to acquire visas and relocate in 2000.
Soon after arriving, however, Velez began encountering cultural barriers that stood in the way of her ability to do the jobs she wanted and live the lifestyle she left behind in Colombia.
With no knowledge of English, Velez struggled to find work, and even struggled with everyday tasks such as helping her elementary aged daughters with their homework. While she had worked in finance at a large corporation in Colombia, she found herself working as a caretaker for another family’s children in Washington. But Velez remained determined to provide opportunities for a successful future for her children despite her own emotional struggles.
“When you really want to change your life,” Velez said, “you have to sacrifice and not lose sight of your dream.”
Hard work pays off
To Velez, Hoffman’s is a symbol of her hard work to make a life for her family in the United States.
Ironically, Velez happened upon the opportunity to buy Hoffman’s through the family she worked for. In 2006, the previous owners put the bakery up for sale, and the family mentioned the situation to Velez, as they knew the selling owners.
Immediately, she expressed interest in buying the shop and they ultimately helped her do so.
“I always tell my kids, it doesn’t matter what temporary job you have,” said Velez. “You prepare yourself to work hard, because you never know who is watching you and will help you take the jump to get your dream.”
Those early days of ownership were much like the days that she is working now to open a new location – long and busy. Velez describes how Jimena and Isabella would often sleep on the counter tops in the bakery’s kitchen late at night while she’d work at revamping recipes.
Even in owning her own business, however, Velez still feels the burden of a language barrier. While much of the reason she chose to be her own boss had to do with that barrier, Velez points out that it is still something she deals with every day.
“Her accent can sometimes be hard to understand, but she is very straightforward and honest about it,” said front-end manager of Hoffman’s Fine Cakes and Pastries, Mariam Alzahem , explaining how Velez will tell customers if they don’t understand her, it is okay to ask to speak to someone else.
The best compensation: citizenship
Owning a business isn’t all that Velez considers a reward for her hard work. In 2013, her and her family officially became citizens of the United States, which she describes as the “best compensation [they] could have ever received for [their] sacrifice.”
Though she hasn’t stopped working hard, Velez is happy with the life she has created for her family. As she prepares yet again to take a risk, Velez is comforted by her knowledge from experience that hard work results in positive outcomes.
“It’s stressful to take this risk, but in my heart I have that same energy to just do it and trust that everything will work out,” Velez said.
