Juliet Botescu

When you’re not working you’re…?

I enjoy gardening and making preserves. I have 12 blueberry bushes, two fig trees, and a good size muscadine vine. In the spring, the garden requires a lot of work getting it ready for planting, and the summer months are busy with fruit processing.

How do you do good in your community?

My definition of good is to be willing and ready to lend a hand to those that can’t help themselves. Being fluent in three languages gives me ample opportunities to help with medical, legal, and immigration issues. In my Spanish circles those issues seem to be important stepping stones for individuals seeking to integrate and participate in their communities.

Where did you grow up? Where do you live now?

I grew up in a small Romanian village in the western Carpathian Mountains. Soon after the fall of communism, my husband was granted a student visa and the entire family emigrated to the US in 1992. We came on a one-way ticket and borrowed money, and with two small children in tow. We put ourselves through school, made the most of our opportunities, and are very thankful for everything this country offered us. Since arriving in the US, we have lived the entire time in South Carolina’s Greenville area.

What’s a destination in the world that you aspire to visit?

I’ve been a few places (some of them not on the map) but one place I’d love to return to is Taiwan.