Threw everything and flew to the USA: an immigrant told how she moved from Chelyabinsk to New York

Natalia Tarasenko, formerly a simple resident of Chelyabinsk, told the publication Snob about how she managed to move to live in New York and what it took for her.

“Do you have a dream for which you are ready to give up everything? Well, like everyone else. For example, a partner who doesn't support your dream. Or friends who discourage her. The city that does not allow her to be fulfilled. An apartment that is yours and you love, but cramped. A job that is completely different. The zone ... throw your comfort zone and send it to hell for this very dream. Is there such a thing? ”Natalia asks.

The answer was obvious to her.

“I left everyone, absolutely all the guys who did not support me in my dream. I quit my comfortable apartment, my hometown, my successful, but wrong job. What is really there, even his own country. And not just got out of the comfort zone, but flew out of it, but not to hell, but on a Moscow-New York flight, "Natalia replied.

prehistory

It all started in June 2006, when the heroine of the story was 20 years old.

“The foolish yellow chick who, like many of my peers at that time, came to the USA under the Work and Travel program, are cherished words for a Russian student, promising adventure and a little American dough. My cousin lived in New Jersey. The small town of Ocean with one movie theater, one big supermarket and McDonald's, in which I started working, serving 10 cheeseburgers for one in the McAuto window, did not impress me. Absolutely. Boredom, silence, no one walks, everyone drives cars, wearing crumpled pajamas to the store is the norm, sports and jazz are not held in high esteem, ”Tarasenko recalls his first impressions of the move.

A colleague at McDonald's said that here in the US only the elderly listen to jazz. This, apparently, was the last straw in the bowl of her young and ardent patience.

“And, in spite of all the warnings of caring New Jersey residents (from“ All your money will be stolen from you there ”to“ Someone will surely kill you there ”), I rushed to New York. - says Natasha. - When I stayed with friends in the Long Island City area of ​​Queens and went out on their roof overlooking the eastern part of Manhattan, I disappeared. I fell in love at first sight with this city of skyscrapers, teeming with people, cars, rats, homeless people, musicians, artists, brokers, managers of different levels and other immigrants from different parts of the planet. "

She emphasized that she fell in love with the geometry of buildings, so different and so combined with each other. In its little secret bars, jazz clubs, restaurants with cuisine from all over the world. Into his music. And music is everywhere in New York - in the subway, in parks, on the streets, around the corner of an old mansion on the East Side. Everywhere. And people. Such different people. All possible skin colors, religions, traditions, speaking a thousand languages. "My love was not embarrassed by either the dirty metro, or the heaps of garbage bags right on the streets (they are collected at night by garbage trucks" without fear and reproach "), or the large number of homeless people on the streets and in the subway."

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“New York, so different, so ebullient, not sleeping at night, makes you spin in its whirlpool, without looking back. But much of this I was able to truly appreciate much later. In the meantime, I just fell in love. Not for, but in spite of ”, - Tarasenko conveys his first impressions.

September 2010 years

Returning from the SShV in 2007 after a year of living in New York, Natasha recovered to her native South Ural State University, successfully graduated from it with honors as a PR manager, managed to work in several small companies as a PR manager and assemble her own music group. ...

3 years after graduation, when she was 24 years old, she worked as an advertising and marketing manager at a fairly large factory that produced facades and roofs.

“The salary, of course, could have been higher, but this is only in theory. I like my job in general, I feel insanely important and smart. Occasionally I run early from work to catch the rehearsals of my jazz-funk band. We have a concert soon. The band is cool: drums, bass, keys, guitar and a whole brass section - a trumpet and two saxophones. And the singer. That is, I. By the way, I sang all my life. From the age of five, and I will sing until the end of my life, that's for sure, ”says Natasha.

By September 2010, her career in PR and advertising was promising with excellent prospects. Music and singing gradually slipped into the status of a common and lovable hobby. And memories of New York were covered with dust and lay on the shelf with photographs.

“At what moment I realized that my curve was not going exactly where happiness was buried, I can’t remember. Although, most likely, this moment was the proposal to become the director of advertising and PR of that very plant with a roof and a facade. The offer was splendid - a new salary, a team, an office and the like. Hardly any of you would have refused, right? ”Tarasenko asked a rhetorical question.

But, having eaten mother's borscht to tell about the upcoming promotion, she suddenly realized that it was not hers, and she was moving in the wrong direction.

“Stop, I'll get off. And she got off. I wrote a letter of resignation the next day. Either the borscht was magical, or I suddenly saw myself from the outside - I don't know. But I realized that I would never return to office work. And a year later I sang in the hottest entertainment establishments of the city, played pertly with the group at corporate parties and weddings, rehearsed without knowing fatigue, and in general I was head over heels happy that I was doing what I loved and also getting money for it " - says the soloist.

The hobby has turned into a serious job, she emphasizes. Now all that remained was to dust off the memories of New York.

“And I did it thoroughly, getting a tourist visa to the United States and hitting the road there in 2012 and 2013 on vacation. Well what can I say - my love has not extinguished over the years. Moreover, she became stronger in separation. New York was being pulled into its pool with renewed vigor. And I could not refuse him, ”the singer recalls with delight.

February 2015. Moscow-New York ticket

After giving the cat to her parents, Natalya and her group gave a farewell concert, which was surprisingly joyful. A little sad, parting with friends on stage, she packed her suitcases and went to the airport, where for the first time in her life she saw dad crying.

“And I felt something tearing in half in my chest. The smile of my mother and the words: “Daughter, you are going to the city of your dreams, saved the day. Do not forget about it. Everything will be fine, - Natasha said about her farewell to her parents. - To be honest, already sitting on the take-off plane of the Moscow-New York flight, I was ready to call a flight attendant and ask to drop me off right on the runway. I suddenly wondered: what am I doing? And what I did was this: I flew with three suitcases to the city, where no one was waiting for me at all. "

She had no acquaintances, no friends, no work there, but only a pre-booked room in Brooklyn. She's the only one and New York.

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“And how my One And only Love would accept me, I didn’t know at all. And before my eyes flew 7 years spent in Russia after my last return from America: a huge number of absolutely amazing people around, my closest and kindest friends, all the scenes on which I managed to sing, all the days of rehearsals and recordings in the studios, parents, such beloved, a cat, which, as I once wanted, came to me from somewhere and which I loved with all my heart, the apartment, so cozy and mine ... And this question in my head: "What the hell?" Is it worth giving up all this for the sake of some kind of dream, which is still unknown, whether it will come true. If you only knew how many dissuaded me! They say, yes, everyone who left like this returned home with nothing. I was told that going to New York is just a waste of time, that it is better to go to Moscow, and even then not so right away, but as soon as you are ready. And I will tell you this: you will never be fully prepared for anything. Never. If you sit and wait until you become good enough, smart enough, professional enough to change your place of residence, work, or even get out of your comfort zone, this will never happen, "Tarasenko said.

March 2015

For the first two months, the girl lived in a cute room in Brooklyn, without work and friends. She recalls how she cried in the evenings, standing at the entrance.

“Honestly, wandering around New York for two months all alone is so-so. There are a lot of emotions, and then I did not know how to share them with myself. I really missed my family on cold snowy evenings, and February and March are usually the coldest months in New York. I even regretted my, as it seemed to me then, stupid act. And she seemed to know what she was doing, that it would not be easy and that work would not be found right away. But this knowledge did not add lightness, ”the immigrant continued.

At first, she tried to look exclusively for work related to vocals. She even managed to perform twice at the famous Tatiana restaurant in Brighton and almost audition for the large and no less famous Baku restaurant in Brooklyn.

“Out of eight vocalists, and not Russian, one came up to me and asked when I was ready to go to work and how many days a week I could sing there. “Yes, even every day,” I replied. I failed on the question "What salary are you willing to work for?" I did not know the local prices for a portion of live vocals in the restaurant. I was confused, embarrassed, and I was immediately transferred to the list of those who will be called back. Note to vocalists planning to conquer Russian restaurants in New York: larger establishments pay from $ 350 to $ 600 per evening, smaller establishments - from $ 100 to $ 200, ”the singer shared her experience.

But this is data from a reality that existed before the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of all restaurants in the city for several months.

“By the end of March, I realized that the stocks of green bills I had brought with me were running out and soon there would simply be nothing to eat. And I decided - I will not find work until April, I will trudge back to "fools and roads." But I found it. I found three jobs at once in two days, ”recalls Natasha.

On Tuesday, in a Russian newspaper, she saw an ad: "A music band is looking for a frontman."

“I'm calling. Guitarist Dima picks up the phone. And he tells me that they would like to take the singer into the group (the singer is mine, my husband). “Let me send you my demos, you will listen and only then decide whether you really disagree with the female vocalist,” was my convincing answer. After sending my vocal recordings via the email given to me, I took up the phone. And she called, just like that, completely at random, to a Russian restaurant in Queens, ”says the heroine of the story.

There she introduced herself and asked if the restaurant needed a singer. She was asked what she was singing, to which, smiling, she replied "everything that people dance to." Natasha was invited to audition.

"Wednesday. I woke up in the morning feeling that I had not done everything in order to find a job. And in this sensation the thought clearly flashed - in this city it will not work only to sing, you need a day's constant earnings. And putting on my cute blue coat, I went in search. Having chosen the main street of the area in Brooklyn where I lived, I decided to go to any clothing or shoe stores that I came across along the way. I’m a terrible shopaholic, working in a boutique will not be difficult for me, ”Tarasenko said with confidence.

The second clothing store became her home for the next four years. She was asked to go to work the next day, Thursday. On the same day, on Wednesday, after lunch, guitarist Dima called (from the band that was looking for a handsome boy) and invited me to sing with them on Friday. And in the evening, after auditioning in a restaurant, Natasha was hired as a singer on Saturdays and Sundays. And so, in two days, she found herself a job for all days of the week.

“I sang with the band for the next year in a restaurant in Queens, in a boutique in Brooklyn I worked for the next four years. I made a huge number of new friends, I met amazing musicians whom I never dreamed of hearing live, let alone singing with them on the same stage! I moved from a small room to a two-room apartment, and by 2016 my life in New York was shining with new colors, ”Natasha happily recalls the dawn of her“ American Dream ”.

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Since then, she has moved four more times. With housing in New York, things are not easy - this is a huge lottery. She managed to find a good, spacious and clean apartment (without ants, mice and cockroaches) only in the summer of 2019.

“The restaurant where I sang on weekends closed a year and a half ago. And since then I have been singing only at my own jazz concerts, which do not happen often, but with a full house. From a women's clothing seller in a Brooklyn boutique, I turned into a stylist and shopper on the East Side in Manhattan, and then in Soho - this is the area of ​​New York in which all the brand stores of the world are concentrated, ”the heroine shared her success.

In December 2019, Natalya moved from fashion to her family in marketing and advertising. According to the logic of past events, she will soon have to give up a high position and go headlong into music alone. As it happened back in 2010 in Russia. The only catch is that she will no longer be offered the position of director.

“Because I'm already the marketing director of a company that creates amazingly beautiful dressing rooms (yes, the same as in all these Hollywood films about rich heterosexual women). Therefore, apparently, I will not have to wait for proposals for an increase. But right here and now I have to decide whether I want to give up everything again for the sake of music. But, firstly, the answer here, in my opinion, is obvious, and secondly, this is a completely different story, ”Natasha said.

June 2020

Tarasenko, as an accomplished business lady, drinks rose wine on the terrace of her good friends' house. Five years, Natasha claims, have passed almost imperceptibly.

“What was noticeable was that I was incredibly happy that I once decided to move to my beloved New York. Now he is not at his best: the coronavirus made him empty, his appearance is thoroughly battered by protests, his Manhattan heart almost stopped, because neither restaurants, nor bars, nor Broadway theaters are still open ... ", - the girl says with a note of sadness.

New York has fallen into a coma, but he is already recovering. He was disconnected from the ventilator, and he gradually begins to breathe on his own.

“And I am going through this difficult period with him. Because you will never give up what you really and truly love. And I don't quit because I love. I love New York, and New York seems to love me. Reciprocity did not appear immediately. And there are still some disagreements. For example, I am still pending documents that will allow me to leave the country. But I think that this issue will soon be resolved - New York will begin to trust me and will let me go to visit relatives and friends, knowing that I will definitely return to him. Because New York is my one and only love .. ", Natalia told about her desire to meet her parents as soon as possible.

Finale

Do you have a dream, asks the heroine of the story, for which you are ready to give up everything?

“If there is, then please don't be afraid to quit. Don't be afraid to obey. Believe in it, even if you are told that your dream is stupid and unrealizable. Even if no one except you believes in it. Listen only to yourself. And believe me, you have enough strength to make it happen only because you have drawn this dream in your head, ”emphasized a successful American business woman, originally from Chelyabinsk.

New York is a very complex, frantic city, sums up Natalia Tarasenko. But her dream saved her.

“And it will come true very soon. And you will know for sure, because I will look at you from the screens of your TV and smartphones and say, receiving the Grammy: “I had a dream for which I was ready to give up everything. And it came true ”. My only love is New York, ”Natasha put an ellipsis in her story.