‘We use music beautifully’: A Cuban man starts dancing in Madrid

Cuban music expands to the second floor of the Principe Pio Interchange, in Madrid, Thousands of people listen to Benny Moreau or Los Van Van every day before boarding or deboarding their buses, but the notes do not come from the terminal speaker or from a passenger’s horn. The music comes from a shoe store managed by Arroyo Naranjo, born in Manzanillo and raised in Santa Amalia.

Ileana Gonzalez Jorge is 43 years old and has been living in Spain for 20 years. She never thought that she would become a businesswoman. But she recently opened her second store in Madrid and is thirsty for more: she wants to take her business to the island. For him, dancing with a Spaniard is not the same as dancing with a Cuban. He says this because he usually sells and serves music to his customers, and he likes to “throw down the aisle” when he likes them.

People leaving or entering Madrid often hit the “corner of the alley”, As the terminal employees and guards call it. He Shop The shoes that Gonzalez took in July 2020 have become a thermometer of the terminal: if no music is heard it is because there is little passenger traffic.

But it wasn’t always like that, Gonzalez remembers a very difficult beginning: “I decided to take this step because, although it sounds very arrogant, I always knew that I was a very good salesman and that I was not earning enough at El Corte Inglés. I felt that what I was selling was too much compared to what I was getting. I had a few prospects and I said: ‘I’m leaving here, I’m going to start my own business.’ The coronavirus comes, and comes an opportunity for me, a transfer, for me to pursue my dreams. In the middle of the pandemic, there was this business that was completely ruined and this guy, the owner, said to me: ‘I think you deserve to stand this business up.’ “That’s how I got into the shoe world.”

This Cuban, who only studied Intermediate Technician in Library Science, has no regrets about taking on this work, Despite failures. “Everything happened. In the middle of the coronavirus, people wearing masks, with no money, were going out into the world for the first time after being locked down for months. It felt like we were living at the end of the world. Imagine starting out What a time to start a business, to start your dreams without achieving anything. When I started I had nothing, in the end I was earning 250 euros on unemployment,” Gonzalez said recently. told Diario de Cuba from the new store opened in Paseo de la Florida.

Gonzalez’s love for the world of fashion comes from her home. Her parents raised her with the money they earned from buying and selling clothes. There aren’t many options for choosing what to wear in Cuba. “I remember my mother taking me to the Yumuri store and I loved seeing those beautifully decorated mannequins. I always had that, because in Cuba I sold clothes. I studied Library Science “I learned it from the cradle,” he explained.

González is part of the Cuban community settled in Spain, the second largest community abroad (ahead of only the US). According to Register of residents of Madrid, In 2022, 29,674 people born on the island lived in the Spanish capital. Most of them lived in the city center due to non-negligible factors such as job offers. For example, many Cuban cuisine restaurants often employ locals. Gonzalez has also turned to compatriots to grow his business, and two Cuban women work for him full-time.

“It is very difficult to find a good work team,” the entrepreneur explained. “I’ve been through Venezuelan and Spanish women, but in the end I realized that we have so much more in common with Cuban women FeelingWe are very good people, warriors. We Cubans know how to sell a product well. In addition, this way I help my compatriots, we feel like family, we understand each other. The world of work here in Spain is very difficult. And maybe with me they can integrate better.”

Dayana Fernández Ales, 39, has been in Madrid for less than a year and hasn’t stayed as long at the other places where she worked. Since Gonzalez gave him a job, he says he can make ends meet “without fear” and support his two young children: “This job represents a lot for me because I have worked in commerce since I graduated in Cuba at the age of 18. Arriving here in Spain, it was a privilege to be able to work with Cubans who come from where I am. At the end of the day we are all Latinas and we understand each other very well. “It’s a great privilege to live here.”

Fernandez, who worked in several shops in Cuba, shares Gonzalez’s vision of using music as a way to reach the masses: “Music is very important in any sense for all businesses. Here I realized that Cuban music attracts customers and as long as it is pleasant to the ears, it helps a lot. Here I feel free because the store is in the interchange and many people of different nationalities pass by. “Because you have charisma because you’re Cuban, you get to know people and make relationships that you can’t even think of anywhere else.”

“We use Cuban music beautifully,” Gonzalez said. “It is very important, Because it’s incredible how such customers come and start dancing. And they say to me ‘Wow! We like this song very much. Things like this help the customer get paid quickly. If you play sad music you start crying, but when you play happy music people happily pay. “You can sell any product and that person disappears from your life, but we usually hook the customer in our way, with grace, with confidence, he too is sold.”

So far Gonzalez has proven that his dancing is successful, and he’s moving forward: “I just opened this new place and I named it ‘Clara Queen’ after my grandmother, who always loved to sew and made my clothes for me. We are also finishing the online store with which we plan to sell in Cuba as well. Anyone will be able to buy from their relatives on the island and send them products. “The same thing you might have bought at an exorbitant price in Cuba, you can probably get cheaper.”

For Gonzalez, the main thing is his team’s unity and “having a good grip on the ground.” He advises all Cuban immigrants arriving in Spain to open their minds and learn a lot from any job: “In this time I have learned that I have to fight for my dreams, that my compatriots are the best, the best. I have been here for many years and I know that people have different ideas when they come, stay. The way of doing things is different and they have to educate it a little bit “But you understand it and I think we Cubans have good feelings, we get involved, we work as a team and we adapt . We are special.”

As far as future plans go, this Havana resident from Santa Amalia can’t stop dreaming: “My goal is to have my product reach directly to Cubans and have to pay very little to get it to Cuba. I want to do delivery at minimum cost, very cheap. I am well aware that it may get delayed and it will come not in a week, but in 15 days. This way we can sell summer fashion all year round, even online. “What the Yumuri store was in Havana, I want to keep here in Spain, take to Cuba.”