July 23, 2024

This week’s Up-and-Comer is Sully Serrano-Salas, a branch manager at American Bank & Trust.

Name: Sully Serrano-Salas

Age: 38

Hometown: Catano, Puerto Rico

What brought you to Sioux Falls?

My parents divorced in 1996, and during that time, women in Puerto Rico were stay-at-home wives and not single mothers. So she decided to move to the U.S. for a better life for herself and her three daughters. My uncle had recently retired from the Air Force and lived in Box Elder, South Dakota, with his family. He offered to help my mom get back on her feet, so we flew from Puerto Rico to Orlando, Florida, where my uncle picked us up in his 1980s Astro Minivan and drove us from Orlando to Box Elder. Three days and a huge U.S. road atlas later, we arrived in Box Elder just in time for the harshest winter we’ve ever seen. Imagine being an island kid, you don’t know any English and have never seen snow; it was like stepping into the twilight zone. There was so much snow that winter, the drifts were as tall as the house we lived in, and I remember helping my uncle dig out and upwards to get out.

Fast-forward to adulthood: My fiance and I wanted to move somewhere that wasn’t too terribly far from Rapid City since my family lives there. We visited Sioux Falls many times for various reasons and loved how it was a “big city with a hometown feeling.”

What keeps you in Sioux Falls?

Sioux Falls has everything we ever looked for; it’s growing at a rapid pace, everyone is super-friendly, low crime, great school system, affordable housing and low unemployment rate. Sioux Falls is doing something right, and we want to be a part of that.

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

Working with people. I truly enjoy connecting with people day in and day out; it’s very rewarding.

How did you get connected to your industry?

Working in banking is something that just fell in my lap years ago. I was in need of a job, and someone my parents knew was in need of someone that was bilingual; I ended up getting the job and have been in banking ever since.

Describe your workplace in three words.

Friendly, productive and happy.

What is something someone might be surprised to learn about you?

I know how to ride a motorcycle. In college, I dated a motorcycle rider, and I didn’t feel safe riding on the back of his bike. So I took classes and got my own motorcycle. I have had a cruiser, a sports bike and most recently a Can-Am Spyder. I love the adrenaline and the feeling of freedom riding gives you.

What’s your favorite way to give back to your community?

Volunteering at back-to-school events and helping with school supply drives. Making sure kids in underserved communities have what they need to have a great school year. I have been on the board of the 5 Star Kidz Cutz event for the last five years while working at my previous organization. I helped fundraise for, organize and collect school supplies for the event. We partnered with Scheels and gave out 200 backpacks, donated school supplies to fill each backpack while stylists in the area gave free haircuts to kids K-12. In addition to this, I have volunteered at EmBe Dress for Success program, teaching financial literacy classes to women in the program and have also put on drives for necessities at the Bishop Dudley House.

What’s one business you’d like to see in Sioux Falls that isn’t here now?

Dunkin’ Donuts.

If you had $1 million to start a business, what kind of business would it be?

Culinary school – my fiance loves to cook, and I always see him on YouTube learning how to make different dishes or looking up hacks for the kitchen. I would love to open up a culinary school for your average everyday adults to take classes where they can learn your basic cooking skills among other things; everyone should learn how to cook.