Eliete da Silva moved from the state of Espírito Santo Brazil to the Island in 2021 and worked as a house cleaner and manicurist. She sold clothes out of her car to make extra cash.

Now she owns her own clothing store on Main street in Vineyard Haven. Colorful bikinis, intricate floral dresses and tightly-fitted jeans line the walls of Gata Fields which opened in April.

She named her shop Gata after the Portuguese word for cat that Brazilians use to call women beautiful. She put ‘fields’ at the end as an homage to the countryside of Brazil where she’s from.

Ms. da Silva said she has over 100 Brazilian customers who regularly shop at her store. Many are former clients from when she was a manicurist who admired her style.

Swimwear is a popular item. — Hailey McLaughlin

She used to rent in a crowded Edgartown house, but in November moved off the Island to an apartment in Falmouth because her daughter needed space for her medical needs. But Ms. da Silva was still determined to run a business on the Vineyard. She wakes-up early every morning to take the ferry so she can open her shop by 10 a.m.

Ms. da Silva does not speak much English, but said she knows enough of the language to help her American customers. When there’s confusion, she uses an online translator or asks her bilingual daughter for help.

“People would say to me ‘but hey, you don’t speak English’. But that won’t be a barrier for me,” Ms. da Silva said. “Americans understand me enough. They put it in the translation app. They’re calm, patient and say ‘no problem’.”

Ms. da Silva described how many of the Brazilians on the Island also have aspirations to run their own businesses and she wants to be an inspiration to them.

“A lot of Brazilians will start something but then they will stop it because they don’t want to do the registration,” Ms. da Silva said. “You can be what you want to be in the U.S..... If you focus and study, you can start your own business.”

She said the Island community has been welcoming.

“These days on the Island, the Brazilians are making a lot of things like the Americans, and a lot of Americans give opportunities to Brazilians,” Ms. da Silva said. “Anything you want to do, Americans are very helpful.”

But it was other Brazilians who helped Ms. da Silva get her storefront. The store next to hers is a clothing store called Lapie, owned by Laysla Barros, who reached out to Ms. da Silva when the store became vacant.

The Brazilian styles Ms. da Silva sells are unlike others on the Island. While tracing her finger along the seam of a pair of jeans, she said Brazilian women are more likely to buy clothes that accentuate the curves of their body whereas Americans tend to be more modest.

Ms. da Silva also imports clothes with her American customers in mind. She sells cream colored work pants and workout clothes that she says she sees American women wearing.

When Ms. da Silva gets her bearings, she hopes to expand her business and also sell men’s clothes, such as soccer jerseys. One day, she hopes to open a second store in Orlando, Fla. and sell bikinis.

“I have to persist,” Ms. da Silva said. “If I don’t succeed, I tried and I will be ready to start something new. I’m not going to give up.”

For tranlation services online, the Gazette now features four languages in addition to English to access. In the print paper, Ms. da Silva’s quotes were translated by Vineyard Gazette publisher, Monica Brady-Myerov.