#PeopleofNEI: Marcos, the ex-New Yorker

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Northeast Indiana is evolving. These are the people shaping its future. #PeopleofNEI

This week’s feature:

Marcos, 31, moved to #FortWayne in 2009 for work after spending most of his life in #NewYorkCity. His parents moved to New York from Peru in 1983 and he is the first person in his family to be born in the United States. He lives in the West Central Neighborhood and is proud of his #Peruvian heritage. “People ask if I’m Mexican, Cuban, or Puerto Rican. There have been times when people don’t even know that Peru is its own country. The biggest culture shift has been walking into a place and being the only minority. It’s unnerving, isolating, and makes me care about it more than I ever did in New York City. There are parts of town where I rarely see another brown person. Fort Wayne’s socio-economical classes feel very geographically based in a way you don’t experience in New York City. Every time that I tell people I moved from New York City to Fort Wayne, I get the same response. The best difference about living here is that everyone here smiles and will open the door for you. When I first moved here, I thought Fort Wayne was masquerading as a big town. Now it’s a thriving community with so much going for it. I can do anything on any given night here. This place is really unique and I mean that in a good way. New York is a huge part of me but what I thought would be a job at Sweetwater has turned into a career. I lucked out. There’s so much support here. There’s people here from all over the world, from Australia to Peru. I get to speak to my customers in English and Spanish every single day. I came out here single and alone. Now, I feel connected and have groups of people here and it’s not just because of my career. This is my home now. As much as New York is a huge part of me, I tell people that I am from Fort Wayne now.” #PeopleofNEI

A post shared by Input Fort Wayne (@inputfortwayne) on Mar 18, 2018 at 5:56pm PDT

#PeopleofNEI: Marcos, the ex-New Yorker

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