It was freezing on Oxford Circus as I handed out leaflets to passersby, jumping up and down to keep warm. “Would you like one?,” I repeated to each person. It was one of the few English phrases I knew. I was 21 and had recently packed up my life in Brazil, sold my car, put my job on hold and enrolled in an English school in London.

I wanted to broaden my horizons. My plan was to find a part-time job to cover my expenses while studying English and travelling before returning to Brazil after six months.

With a university degree and experience as a sales rep for a large pharmaceutical company, I thought I’d be able to find a job to tide me over. But my qualifications and experience didn’t count for much in the UK. I didn’t have any friends, I felt incredibly alone and couldn’t speak English. I felt people looked down on me.

I shared a house with 16 people, so my wage was about enough to cover my accommodation and food. While it wasn’t easy, I really wanted to learn English and realised six months wasn’t enough to do so. I forked out for another six months of language training.

Fast forward, and six months turned into 14 years. During that time I became fluent in English, got a job in the admin department of an English school, then in an accommodation office, then started my own accommodation business, YouinLondon Accommodation (which I sold in 2012 ). It mostly targeted at students and international visitors staying in London for short periods. I met my husband, who’s British, and we still live in London. After our children were born I decided to take a few years out of work, but I’ve recently caught the business bug again.

In January, I began thinking about what kind of business I could start. I’m proud to be Brazilian and I wanted to give back to my home country in some way. That desire was how my new business, Kaiowa, was born.

I contacted the Brazilian government and asked them to recommend sustainable communities which might be interested in working with me. They suggested a few making jewellery. I got in touch first with a community of women artisans who make unusual accessories by hand, mostly out of grass (golden grass that only grows in the Jalapão area in the state of Tocantis), which I thought were beautiful. I was sure plenty of people would buy them.

Now I’m working with three communities, which invest the money they make back into the community and share out the rest between the women who make the goods. They send their products through the post and I wire payment directly to their bank accounts. I received my first delivery in August. Sales are growing through word of mouth and I’m setting up a website to sell them online.

While working on my new business, I’ve met lots of Latin American women entrepreneurs. I’m lucky I have a British passport but for many of them, Brexit is a real worry. Many Brazilians, for example, have Portuguese or Spanish passports and fear that after Brexit, they will have to close their businesses and leave. They can’t plan for the future as there are so many question marks.

Seeing this anxiety, I decided to create a networking group for Latin American women so we can support one another during this uncertain time in Britain. The Latin American Women Entrepreneurs network had its first meeting in September.

We’ve about 60 members so far. We have an informal meeting once a month and every eight weeks we organise events focused on networking, marketing and personal development. We also invite guest speakers and experts, for example one of the finance directors of the NHS is lined up for a workshop in January on budgeting for small businesses.

There is a lot of misconception around Latin Americans. People often assume you are a carer or cleaner. Of course there’s nothing wrong with such work, but the stereotype can be limiting. With this network, I want to shift stereotypes.

Latin American women are positively contributing to the UK. Many in our network have opened successful businesses that have created new jobs. For example, Nybs, which sells traditional Brazilian snacks, was founded by a Brazilian woman in our group and her British husband. Another Brazilian member, Lenne Moghadari, has three British employees at her company Custom Cleaning services. With the network, I want to empower our community while giving us opportunities to connect with others.

Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.

• The headline of this article was amended on 15 January 2026 to better reflect the text of the article.