Welcome to Episode 21 of The American Dream in The Eyes of Immigrants Podcast; I am your host, Heidy De La Cruz. Today’s guest is the founder and creator of Ace Candles, Thalia.

Thalia is from Puerto Rico, the youngest of three, and she was nine when her parents decided to move to the United States. Although she knew English before they moved, she was still placed in the ESOL program (English for Speakers of Other Languages), and it took some time for her to adapt to schooling in the US.

We speak about the struggle of being bilingual and bilingual parents. It’s a struggle because sometimes we forget words in one language or we have to translate in our mind what we want to say from Spanish to English and also try to speak to our children in our native language so we don’t lose our culture, but we are more comfortable speaking Spanish.

If you are bilingual – I want to hear if this is something you relate to and how you overcome this.

Thalia gives us an insight into how they lived in the United States for the first two years, all five of them (her, her parents, and two brothers) in her grandparents’ garage, which was turned into a studio. I loved that she says she loved that time with her family because I’m sure others (me) would have resented having to live like that for two years.

We end the episode with Thalia talking about her candle company. Her candles are non-toxic, chemical-free, and smell AMAZING!

Check out Thalia's candle etsy shop here: The Ace Candles

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If you or someone you know would like to share their immigration story, please send me a message on Instagram.

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