Rosalie DaRosa
President, North East Knitting, Inc.
Pawtucket, RI

Rosalia DaRosa was born on the island of Brava, Cape Verde; she is the 3rd child of 12 children born to Manuel and Anna Xavier. In her early years Rosalia attended Escola Materna where she ultimately became a class mentor for the younger children. At the age of 14, in January of 1965 she went to Italy along with 1other sibling. There she worked various jobs to help her family back in Cape Verde.

At the age of 18, in 1969 she immigrated to the United States to join her family. She worked at International Stretch, where her father was employed from 1969 to 1986 as a machine operator. She had various jobs during this period and worked her way up to Plant Manager for the knitting department. After a long 15 years of working hard at International Stretch, the company went out of business. Rosalie then with few co-workers purchased 15 old machines and started a new company called North East Knitting, Inc. in 1986. Since its inception, the company has grown and knows no limits with Rosalie as President of the company.

In June of 1973 Rosalia married John DaRosa, also from Brava, She is a mother of 3 wonderful gentlemen (Eric, Alex and Mike) she is also a grandmother of 3 beautiful grandchildren.

North East Knitting Inc employs over 100 people, at the present time 80% of them are Cape Verdean. Rosalie’s hope and wish is to keep the doors open and to help people provide for their families and build their careers. During difficult times her company continues to strive forward and is developing new product lines to meet future demands.

She is also attempting to expand into Cape Verde through North East Knitting, her goal is to provide a significant number of jobs and help boost Cape Verdes economy. Unfortunately one of the biggest barriers has been transportation to and from each island. That is one of the reasons why she strongly supports The Fast Ferry because she understands the value of transportation. Rosalia has a strong commitment to Cape Verde and helping improve the lives of its residents.