I first came to Las Vegas on vacation, after a few weeks I received an invitation to stay and decided to accept. Since I had lived in Brazil all my life, it was the scariest decision I ever had to face. During my teenage years, I worked at a newspaper, in radio, and in politics in the cities of Ribeirao Preto and Sertaozinho. I wrote columns specializing in economics and politics for local and national newspapers. I also published business magazines, guides for engineering, assembling and decorating fairs and exposition such as FRANCAL, EXPAM, FAIRA, and others in Anhembi Park in Sao Paulo. Performing all of this public work gave me the opportunity to make many friends that today are all over the world. Friends that I have never lost contact with.

My first American political adventure came as an invitation to help with a dinner party for President Ronald Reagan. More invitations followed. I worked on the campaign of former CIA member, General Coy Peyton, Candidate for Congress as well as other Senatorial and Gubernatorial candidates. One invitation in particular surprised me. I was invited, in spite of my very thick Brazilian accent, to become a Public Relations Representative for the Republican Political Party. I had helped and supported the party with many events, in particular the arts auction, representing many world famous artists, among them Tony Queen.

Many times I had to stop and ask myself, "Who am I?" "Am I Brazilian or American?" This confusion brought me much sadness because I love my Brazilian people, but I also love my new people here in the United States. Time was moving on and many of my former employees and friends, whom I stayed in contact with, did not understand why I would gamble with my future when I had a good and secure future with them in Brazil. Some people felt that if I were to stay in America I would be destroying my career. I always felt that my life was guided by fate and so I decided to continue exploring life in a new country. Although I thought I was prepared for the challenge a new question came. "What is life going to bring me?" "Should I change, or not?" These and other question tortured me day and night, even causing me to lose sleep.

Finally I made a decision. With a great deal of respect for the advice from my friends and former employers - I decided to stay. Finally, by reaching that decision, I was ready to embrace the new changes I had made in my life. Living in a new country and new city with two children has not been without mistakes. Each mistake has taught me to lift my head and try to move forward, whatever may happen.

One small move, stopping in Las Vegas, changed my whole life. Part of that change came in realizing that most of the people I met here were very misinformed about Brazil. They seemed only to know negative things about the country. This realization affected me very deeply, and I decided to face one more challenge and publish "EnterBrasil" Magazine.

"EnterBrasil" is published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese with plans for adding two additional languages. Before publishing I decided to do some research, so I established a web page and by world of mouth was telling people about it. The success was fantastic with over 95,000 visitors and 5,000 e-mails from all over the world in three months. This gave me the strength to go ahead with the project. Support has come from collaboration with people from entrepreneurial, political, and other sectors of life, all with more than third years of experience.

Distribution will be local, and international. The magazine will have news regarding new products, new laws, social issues, advice, editorials, articles, and classified advertising. Finally, we will have an open door to you. I hope that you like, and are inspired by "EnterBrasil".

Ruth Grava
Publisher
Editor in Chief