Alexandra Tomasillo smiles as she walks into a classroom bustling with the sounds of her native language. Today she is the program manager of Cambios, an organization dedicated to teaching business and farming skills to Latino immigrants in the Springfield area. She works, “to connect the Latino community to the rest of Eugene to give them access to information and resources that the rest of the community has access to”. She acts as a bridge between the Latino population and the rest of the community focusing on making connections. But, her life was not always this way.

Born in Venezuela in the late 1980’s, Alexandra spent the early years of her life living with her mother and brother near the capital of Caracas. However, her life was bound for change when Tomasillo’s mother married a man from New York. The young family was initially torn on where they would live. But, the dramatic events of the 1989 Caracazo riots led the Tomasillo family to escape the violence and inflation.

When Alexandra arrived in rural, Long Island she and her brother were two of three Latino kids in the whole school district. This shocked the young, immigrant family. She remembers “a definite bias in school towards kids from other countries, especially South America”. This led her down a long path of denial. Tomasillo did everything she could to fit in and began only speaking in English, even at home where her family only spoke in Spanish. In school, she worked her hardest constantly trying to prove herself. After years of forcing herself to become American she would eventually take a trip that changed her.

  In 2006 Alexandra took a trip home. Immersed in the green mountains and beautiful scenery of her native land she warmly tells of the feeling of “[familiarity], it felt like home. Almost like a comfort food that just makes you feel good inside”. This feeling allowed her to reconnect with her heritage, something that remains central to her today

     When Alexandra came back to the states, she studied Culinary Arts in Philadelphia and worked in restaurants and catering before eventually landing a job at Whole Foods. After recognizing the opportunity of being bilingual, she became a liaison between Spanish-speaking producers and management who she jokes were “as American as apple pie”. This was rewarding work that allowed her to move around the country connecting people.

Today, Tomasillo’s work centers around connecting people and embracing the heritage that she once denied. She remains hopeful that her work at Cambios will allow her “to foster small businesses” that lead to a “good, happy community where everyone has access to the resources they need.”

 

By: George Graziano