Two suitcases. Ninety bucks. Elementary English. In this installment [1] of The Media Line’s Stories of Hope series, Tanya Tylevich steps into New York City on May 4, 1990, as a Jewish refugee—and the first surprise isn’t Brooklyn’s noise, or Manhattan’s glow. It’s quiet New Jersey, rolling past the George Washington Bridge like a postcard that doesn’t match the movie. The piece is the second installment in her three-part autobiographical journey; readers can catch part one, “My Silver Spoon [2],” on The Media Line’s website.
Brooklyn, she writes, hits hard: rough, loud, chaotic. Manhattan is love at first sight. Then comes the subway—no chandeliers, no marble, no “underground museum” glamour like Leningrad’s metro, just grit, noise, and a smell nobody would ever approve in a design review. Still, it works, because the city works.
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Tylevich learns English the street way: selling roses, working at a bagel shop on West 57th Street, watching TV, reading on long rides. The Bagel Baron job lasts two weeks at $3.25 an hour, but she leaves with a strange trophy: elite bagel-cutting skills her family still benefits from. A tiny flower shop fits better—six days a week, long hours, phone calls to request bathroom breaks, and an accidental brush with celebrity when Al Pacino’s assistant buys flowers every morning.
What keeps the story from turning bleak is the Soviet émigré crew: 20-somethings sharing leftovers, walking Brooklyn at night to escape airless apartments, and furnishing homes by the garbage-day calendar—because freedom, at the time, mattered more than appearances.
The arc stretches forward: more than two decades at Goldman Sachs, an “aha” moment on New Year’s Eve 1999 prepping for Y2K, leadership that pushes her to speak up, and a career that turns her global background into an advantage—from Bangalore calls to São Paulo breakthroughs.
For the full, richer ride—funny, sharp, and quietly moving—read the entire piece [1].