From panda babysitter to mattress tester, There are thousands of different jobs and, as strange as they may seem at first glance, they are all equally necessary. To demonstrate this, the Magas team brings the example of Eliana Ortega, a lice exterminator whose story will leave no one indifferent.
Being a lice exterminator may seem unpleasant at first. But did you know that There are those who earn up to $2,500 a day. to accomplish this task? This is Eliana Ortega, an Ecuadorian who went to New York to realize the American dream, but I ended up living in a basement and with no money because he couldn’t find a job.
Her, lice saved his life: After discovering this very particular profession, it only took him a few years to collect enough money to repay all his debts, Buy your dream home in the Big Apple and spend peacefully with her daughter the life she always dreamed of; although her plans did not include cleaning the heads of thousands of people of lice. Now, Eliana Ortega She is the best exterminator of these parasites in New York.and hundreds of people request their services every month.
Lice Exterminator
Before she became the best at what she did, Eliana went through a difficult time when she moved to New York: she had no job, no money, no home and, over time, began to feel lonely and insecure: Had you made the right decision in moving to the Big Apple? Yes. All his doubts were dispelled the day he found a treatment company to eliminate liceThis moment was a rebirth for her.
At that moment, I worked in a restaurant and at the airporteven though his desire was to leave both positions to devote himself entirely to eliminating lice. “I always thought that, please, A customer had lice and contacted me. When they called me, I would miss my other two jobs, at risk of being fired, but With one lice client, I earned the same as I did with the other two jobs combined. in just one week,” admits Eliana Ortega. And that’s how, little by little, she gained the trust of her clients until she left her job at the restaurant and at the airport.
Eliana Ortega: “Lice removal in New York is a multi-million dollar industry. I’ve earned up to $2,500 a day”
“That’s when everything changed for me. I have become an expert in lice removal.. I immediately realized that eliminating lice in New York It’s a multi-million dollar industry. I make about $2,500 a day.“, explains Eliana Ortega, who has already saved enough to buy her dream home in New York. Immediately, she decided to start and create her own business, which she named Bigger than lice. “It was an opportunity to teaching my daughter to dream big and be a strong and courageous woman, but above all independent, so that you never depend on any man“, confesses the Ecuadorian.
Bigger than lice
“Am New York’s Number One Expert Lice Exterminator“, he comments. His company has already served more than 15,000 private clients in and around the New York metropolitan area 700 schools.
Among its services, Larger Than Lice offers home visits to detect lice, as well as their treatment and elimination. The cost for diagnosis is $155 per person. In the case of treatment application, The budget varies between 165 and 265 dollars.. In addition, you should know that the budget depends on the length of the hair to be treated. Eliana Ortega’s company also visits schools to examine students and teachers.
And, to provide a complete service, Larger Than Lice also offers organizes conferences and courses train teaching staff in basic preventive measures and debunk some of the myths surrounding the life of these parasites. In fact, Eliana has also published a booktitled Let’s talk about lice (in Spanish, Let’s talk about lice), in which he explains the strategies and methods he uses to eliminate these uncomfortable companions.
A day like “lice”
In her daily life, Eliana visits at least a few houses to apply anti-lice treatment. Contact her via her websiteand make an appointment. “Sometimes they call me to tell me they have lice and it’s not the case. It could be dandruff, allergies or other conditions. I take the diagnosis over the phone and ask them to describe the symptoms,” says Eliana Ortega. Then, if you think it might be lice, He goes home to apply the treatment.
To eradicate parasites, Eliana uses natural, safe and non-toxic products. In addition, several types of brushes and combs, as well as a special light are needed to examine the scalp in detail. With these tools, you organize your hair into different sections. so that no lice or nits escape when applying the treatment.
“I now consider that I am a happy woman. I am grateful, but I would like to have more free time to enjoy my new home, my family… It makes me sad, but it does not take away the happiness in my life,” she says. In addition, she continues to look back on the time when Eliana did not have as comfortable a life as she does today, because she had to work hard to found her own company. It all started with a dream, her great American dream.
“It was my American dream”
“July 16, 2014 I made the most important decision of my life: resign from my position as insurance manager in Quito and leave my native country for go live in New York“, says Eliana. And that’s how it was. On July 16, her destiny changed forever: she left all her family and friends behind. living the “American dream”.
Eliana Ortega traveled with her daughter to New York.
It all started when she was nine years old and one day her cousin from New York came to Ecuador to visit family. “When I saw her arrive, I thought they took it from a Disney movie. I remember the smell of his clothes caught my attention, because American clothes smelled different“, Ortega said thoughtfully. And the next day, when she went to school, the first thing she did was ask her teacher where New York City was on the world map.
“In Ecuador I had everything, but I wasn’t happy. I felt a huge void and I knew I didn’t want to be there. Since I saw my cousin, I made it clear that I wanted to make my dream come true,” he says. And he focused all his efforts on get a visa to enter the United Statesalthough he soon realized that it wouldn’t be as easy as he initially thought. In fact, it was almost seven years trying to enter the country.
In the USA for love
Realizing the American dream was Eliana’s greatest dream. However, there was another topic that rejoiced her soul: the love he felt for a boy who lived in the United States. “Part of my desire to move was because I was in love. I was in a long-distance relationship, so My boyfriend and I came up with a plan to be together in New York.” he explains. This plan he is talking about was of course illegal. It was based on the fact that the two would meet in Toronto (Canada), and from there they would cross the American border, risk being arrested by US authorities.
“In the United States, life as an illegal person is very different from that of a person with papers. I have worked and lived illegally”
They achieved their goal.”The first thing I did in the United States was make lovebecause at that moment we felt a lot of adrenaline,” Eliana admits. However, all this whirlwind of emotions did not last long, so They broke up after four months..
“My first stay in New York It wasn’t the fairy tale I thought it would be.. In the end, I didn’t stay there with my boyfriend, but I went back to Ecuador. In the United States, the life of an illegal person is very different from that of a person with papers. I worked and lived illegally” explains Eliana Ortega.
Entrepreneur and single mother
Although he had a very difficult first experience in “the city that never sleeps” and returned to his home country, Eliana continued to pursue her ideal and, years later, he decided to try again. That’s when, accompanied by her eight-year-old daughterThey left everything behind and flew to the Big Apple, but this time legally.
“I went into debt to live in New York, some days I didn’t eat so my daughter could eat”
“I got the visa after seven years of unsuccessful attempts. When I arrived in New York, I had no plans, no money, no job and I didn’t speak English.“, he explains. Because he didn’t have one, he didn’t even have a house, so they were living in an old basement with no kitchen that their New York cousin offered them. “I couldn’t ask for anything more, I had sold everything I had and I had gone into debt to have enough money to live in New York“, remember.
Eliana started her own lice extermination business.
Meanwhile, went through very difficult times: The money he carried with him was not infinite, so little by little it ran out. “There were days when I went without eating so my daughter could eat it“, he explains. In addition, the jobs he got were very precarious, earn less than minimum wage: “I started working as a cleaner in an office, and I earned eight dollars an hour, when the minimum wage was $11. I also worked as a waitress, and I earned even less, five dollars an hour.”
Anyway, it was all worth it: he now has what he wanted when he was 9 years old and Your great American dream has come true. Even if, as Eliana says, has many goals to achieve and he won’t stop until he gets them back. For now, she’ll continue to strive to be the best in one of the most special professions: lice exterminator.
