MIAMI -- At age 10, when she arrived in the United States from Cuba after waiting four years to be reunited with her father, Jennifer Arniella didn’t dare to speak English. She was afraid that her middle school classmates would make fun of her, so she kept to herself and her small circle of friends from Homestead.
Arniella, who did not speak English well until she was 18, has had the opportunity to meet President Joe Biden to tell him — in the language that once gave her headaches — the difficulties she faced and the perseverance she displayed to start a business during the pandemic.
“It was something very intimate, very nice, not at all intimidating,” says Arniella, recounting the meeting that five small-business owners had with Biden in the Oval Office on April 28.
