And that mentality becomes your competitive advantage.” “You do whatever it takes, working two or three jobs, 20 hours a day if necessary. quickly took a detour: the job Cruz was promised fell through. “When we met Americans, we’d ask them, ‘Do you know Arnold Schwarzenegger? Do you know Sylvester Stallone? Why not? You’re an American!’”īut his new path in the U.S.

Hollywood is the best marketing tool,” he said. “In Brazil, you’d hear all about the United States. Just four months earlier, at age 23, he had married his high school sweetheart, but they were too broke for her to accompany him on the initial trip.Ĭruz was excited to chase the American dream. With $250 in his pocket, Cruz arrived in the United States. “If it didn’t work out, at least I’d learn English and I could go back to Brazil and get a better job.” I lived in a shanty town with crappy jobs and no future,” he said. “Some people said I was crazy, but I had nothing to lose. He would draw field plans and work with big machines. “I thought, at $10 an hour, I’ll be a millionaire!” I said ‘Let’s do it.’Ĭruz had been promised a $10-an-hour job as technical mechanic at a soon-to-be launched company. “So when I came across an opportunity to work in the United States. “That was a big thing in our favela,” he said.īut college was out of reach. Nothing is given to you, so you always work hard for what you want.”Ĭruz relied on that work ethic to graduate from high school. He also went door to door in the neighborhood, offering to do odd jobs: “I could’ve been out playing soccer, but this was our mentality. As a young boy, Cruz would help his mom sell water on the beach: “We didn’t have a license or anything, but we had that entrepreneurial spirit.” “She didn’t have an education past 3rd grade, but she’d say, ‘Education is very important.’” “I grew up in a poor family, but I was blessed to have a mom who had a vision for me,” said Cruz, who is pursuing an executive master’s degree in global management at Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management. Fernando Cruz '17, Brazil, Executive Master of Global Management Download Full Image Ready to read more? Subscribe to the Knowledge Network newsletter.įernando Cruz credits “the immigrant mentality” - along with his mother - for taking a boy from a Brazilian shanty town, or favela , and turning him into a successful entrepreneur.

Access to software is explained during New Student Orientation.This profile is part of a series highlighting the personal stories and achievements of Thunderbird students. Some software is available to all students and some is only available to students in particular programs. Students with qualifying laptops are given access to install University-licensed software (see Laptop Requirement).

Vectorworks student download free