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Nikki Giovanni, from “Age”

“I was just a girl from Poland. But I wasn’t afraid when I came here. It was like a big, beautiful machine to me. The energy, the madness of it. On my very first day I stood on the corner of Broadway and 44th Street. People were screaming and yelling. All of it was beautiful, even the bad stuff. Back home it had been so strict. Everything by the book. But here you had the freedom. Right away I was thinking: ‘This is my city. I want to be a part of it.’ I got my first job working at a delicious German bakery. I didn’t speak any English. But I have a photographic memory. Anything I can see, I can do. I learn to make everything: the candies, the cookies. Even the perfect little Easter Bunnies. Then one day I see an advertisement in the New York Times. I opened right to the page: ‘Sandler’s Chocolate Shop for sale.’ It felt like destiny. I do my research in the old way. For two weeks I stood across the street from the shop and counted all the people. Then I tell Mr. Sandler: I am ready to buy the store. I memorized the recipe of all the chocolates. I learned the taste of each of them. I have a thing for colors. When I’m surrounded by colors, my whole body shakes. So I chose all the perfect colored boxes. My mother came to work with me every day. We fight, but ‘love fight.’ The fight of stupid things. We were very close. More like sisters. We knew everything that needed to be done, even without speaking. For 25 years we run the shop together. She’s been gone for seven years now. I miss her very much. And without her it is much more work, but I am trying my best. For 32 years this has been my normal life. Doing the chocolate and the cookies. It has always felt like normal thing to me. Like I’m just one of millions. Ordinary girl doing her job. That’s the way I was thinking. But recently people are coming in here every day, they are saying: ‘You cannot go down. We will miss you.’ I never realize how much the people likes me, and this makes me extremely proud. Do you know what they say to me? All the people? They tell me: ‘Kamila, we need you here.’ Can you imagine that? Me, just a girl from Poland. They say: ‘You are part of New York. The city needs you.’” Like so many other business owners, Kamila fell into a giant sinkhole with her rent during the pandemic. She worked out a deal with her landlord, but still owes nearly $100,000. If anyone would like to help Kamila save her 32 year old business, Kamila’s friends have created a GoFundMe for her: https://bit.ly/MyzelsChocolates

And if anyone would like to get New York’s tastiest chocolates and candies for Valentines Day, you can visit Kamila at Myzel’s Chocolates on 140 W. 55th.

humansofnewyork

She initially said “no” when I asked for a photo, but another old woman walked by, and began speaking passionately in Ukrainian. Apparently convinced by the words of the passerby, the woman shrugged, and posed for the picture. After everything was finished, I asked my interpreter: “What did that other woman say?”“She said: ‘You must not refuse a photo, because you must represent the women of your land. Now go to eternity!’”(Odessa, Ukraine, HONY Archives 2013)