Monica's drawing of her cafe, Tanto Dulce

When ACCION USA borrower Monica Gonzalez designed the interior of her new Harlem café, she did so from a hospital bed. Monica was recovering from major emergency surgery in the months before the opening of Tanto Dulce (“So Sweet” in English), a dream which had been years in the making.

Eight years ago, Monica moved to the U.S. from Venezuela, where she had worked as a lawyer, in order to give her children better opportunities. Not knowing English, she found it difficult to secure a legal job, so she turned to her hobby: baking. After an apprenticeship and classes where she learned to make classic Italian desserts, Monica opened up a wholesale basement space from which she sold to local food trucks serving the Hispanic community.

ACCION USA gave Monica a loan to open up a storefront on Broadway in Harlem. However, she started having stomach problems around the same time. When they became too painful to ignore, she saw a doctor, who told her she would need to have surgery immediately. As her family and friends were completing the move into the Tanto Dulce space, Monica directed their efforts from her hospital recovery room, drawing pictures like the one above.

Monica’s unassuming demeanor hides a fierce entrepreneurial drive that is evidenced by her perseverance. In addition to continuing to sell wholesale goods from the basement space, she is taking more classes to broaden her cooking repertoire so that she can open a wine bar one day.

On a recent visit, I found the tiny café full of both students and local patrons, all enjoying their late-morning snacks and coffees as studying as reggaeton radio music softly played in the background.

Check out a behind-the-scenes video here on our YouTube page!