Unemployment Was Looming

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Adriana Pezzuto FacesUnemployment

Adriana Pezzuto was an only child born to two immigrant parents. She was what was commonly referred to as a “latch key kid”.

Her parents worked hard to make a life for themselves and their child in the United States. Her parents were both industrious and therefore did not feel the effects of unemployment as so many did in the ’70′s. As such not much time was spent together. Adriana spent most of her days reading. She would lose herself in novels that transported her far away from the tenement in which they lived.

Her love of literature never progressed beyond that point. Faced with the idea that she must chose a career she decided upon Law School. Several years into her education there was a turning point in one of her Law classes. She was asked to represent a “defendant” whom clearly she felt was “guilty” of the alleged crime. Her inner conscience decided that although everyone deserves a fair trial, she could not put aside her belief system to allow herself to represent this person to the best of her ability. Thus began her journey down the long road of avoiding unemployment. She had started a part time job at the local grocery store. While all of her friends were out partying she was industriously working. Weekly she would walk across the street to the local bank to cash her check. When she noticed a sign that read “Are you on unemployment? Looking for part time income? Inquire within”  The dye had been cast.

Marriage and the Unemployment Line for Adriana Pezzuto

Continuing her education she graduated with a degree in Psychology as well as an MBA in Marketing. She had married her high school sweetheart,Tony in the Spring following her graduation from college. They had 2 boys, Gianni (19) and Lorenzo (15).

She loved her career and her family. Everything was right where it needed to be, a young professional couple with a healthy little boy and a brand new puppy she had always longed for, they purchased their first home and began living a contented life.

Until one day  while home on maternity leave for the second child they were expecting the mail man delivered a  registered mail envelope. Little did she know that this one day  in the Spring of 1998 would be the turning point in her family’s life and the beginning of her affair with unemployment.

The company that Adriana was working for had gone public and started trading on the NASDAQ. Unemployment notices were going out throughout the company. It was at this time that many other banks had decided to merge as well. The little guy was squeezed out and many managers had now been faced with spending their days on the unemployment line. Recruited as a young student Adriana felt that she would retire with this company but that was not to be.

At around the same time the stock market took a turn for the worse. Her husband Tony was employed by a high profile brokerage firm in the Financial District. He came home early one day which was highly unusual and presented her with an envelope. The strange hue of it made her sick to her stomach, she recognized the pink unemployment slip. It was not too long previously that she had received her own unemployment slip after all.

So it came to pass that both Adriana Pezzuto and her husband lost their jobs simultaneously.

Like so many professionals in today’s economy, her career was yanked from under her.

Faced with a gut wrenching decision she conceded to going on unemployment for a couple of months. But the couple realized that they could not make ends meet on the measly amount that unemployment office was sending. Adriana spent the next several years taking on jobs from insurance underwriting, to customer service, cashiering and waitressing while at the same time deciding to get her teaching degree. But the personal pain that came from receiving that unemployment envelope at the most vulnerable point in her life could not be erased.

Several dark years ensued in which she had to personally struggle with some inner demons.
She painfully came to the realization that she wanted and deserved much more!

Adriana picked up her family and moved to Florida where not much was available to either her or her husband in the form of employment. Overqualified for the jobs that were hiring, they were both faced with going back on unemployment. The next couple of years would be a whirlwind of of startups and failures, expenses, and pretty difficult times for both her professional life and personal. The family stuck it out together not really knowing where they would land at the end of this ride. But they knew that they were not raised to stay on unemployment and take handouts. But what could they do?

Crawling Out From Under the Unemployment Cloud

Then one day Adriana Pezzuto came across another one of the thousands of ads she had seen for a home based business. Promising riches for only an hour a day, this one in particular seemed a promising alternative to heading back to the unemployment line.
She jumped right into it with vigor. This endeavor would not prove successful until 6 months later after many more business startups she decided to seriously give it another try.

Her first month Adriana began to teach herself the fine skills of marketing and online SEO. It was a long road for her moving away from corporate life and into entrepreneurial mode. The more she witnessed in the company the more passionate she became in carrying out the company’s vision.

Within 5 months Adriana had absorbed enough information from the teachings of the master marketers that she surrounded herself with in the company to enjoy the role of a leader and mentor. She began to touch other peoples’ lives that had also been damaged by the ravages of unemployment.

The stories and the roads traveled are all different yet all strikingly similar. The desire to escape unemployment and gain financial freedom is something we all need and want. Hopefully, many more women and men, moms and dads, sons and daughters will never have to get involved with online schemes. It is her greatest wish that Empower Network will be the first and only stop in the journey away from unemployment and towards utopia.

See for yourself

PS: If you are currently on the unemployment hamster wheel …jump off right now! Come join Adriana and live the life you know you deserve. Don’t live on those unemployment checks that barely cover your bills. Don’t scrape by.

Adriana Pezzuto