Bambi Santayana, front right, serves a customer at her Cape Breton Farmers' Market vendor booth Cantina. NICOLE SULLIVAN/CAPE BRETON POSTSYDNEY, N.S. — It's a family affair at Cantina in the Cape Breton Farmers' Market food court every Saturday.
"It's basically a homage to our Filipino and Spanish roots," she said."We received a very good reception at the first pop and that encouraged us to do more pop-ups. An opportunity came up to have a regular booth with them so I grabbed that opportunity."Created own job YREACH is a provincial program, provided in Cape Breton in partnership with the local YMCA and Cape Breton Partnership, for immigrants. It provides settlement support and programs such as English as an additional language classes, networking and employer help."I was lucky to have been chosen," she said.
"I was one of those students who found it difficult to find a job when I arrived here," Santayana said."But that did not stop me from finding my purpose and so I looked through the various volunteer opportunities. I know that there are a lot here in Sydney." However, she wouldn't put herself solely in the food industry business. If an opportunity arises, Santayana said she's going to jump to take it — just like she did with Cantina.