Michelle Cruz grew up in public housing on East 123rd Street and 2nd Avenue. She’s Puerto Rican, and as a kid, East Harlem was her whole world. She didn’t think about the city beyond El Barrio much, until she saw a documentary on TV. “It said, ‘There’s a beautiful side of New York,’ and it showed 42nd Street, the hotels, and it showed Broadway and all the lights,” she remembered. “Then it said 'There’s this other side,’ and they showed across the street from where I lived.”

Cruz said the neighborhood she knew didn’t have that glitz or glamour, but it was also beautiful, full of fun, family and friends. To celebrate her community, she opened a coffee shop in 2008 and named it East Harlem Cafe. “This was going to be the place for people who grew up here in East Harlem and had the love and passion for East Harlem,” she said.

The coffee got rave reviews on Yelp. People flocked to the fundraisers she hosted for local causes. But there were challenges: Big things like when the economy crashed, and little events like the construction that scared away foot traffic. In East Harlem, small businesses get among the fewest loans in the city, and Cruz said she didn’t start her cafe with enough capital. Two years ago, she closed the doors on her business.

But Cruz says she’s found a new calling: sharing the lessons she learned with other small business owners. Now, she runs the Buy Local campaign for the nonprofit Union Settlement’s Business Development Center, part of the East Harlem Alliance. She holds financing workshops, matches new entrepreneurs with mentors and connects small businesses to larger companies. She said every year East Harlem residents spend $3 billion on goods and services, but $805 million of those purchases are outside the neighborhood. Cruz wants to see more capital stay in the community, especially as the neighborhood gentrifies and commercial rents start to spike.

“I’m just trying to focus on what I can do to help them build their sales or their capacity so there’s longevity here for them,” she said.

Cruz said this spirit of neighbors helping neighbors, that’s the beautiful side of New York.