Dulce Gutierrez

El Rey Personal Banker Dulce Gutierrez has learned a lot since her first job at La Fuente Restaurant. “I was 16, and my dad knew the owner. He got me a job hosting. Sometimes the wait would be an hour or more, and people would get frustrated. I wanted to tell them, ‘Go somewhere else to eat if you don’t want to wait!’”

She of course uttered no such thing. “I had to learn to be patient,” she says, and she stayed for two years.

Dulce has been with North Shore Bank since 2006. She started as a part-time CSR at Jackson Park, then went full time. She was promoted to service banker, and two years ago she accepted the position of personal banker at El Rey.

“I love helping my customers reach their financial goals,” she says. “Whether it be purchasing a house or something as simple as signing up for online banking, no goal is too small. It is always my pleasure to help them.”

Besides cultivating patience, Dulce counts on another bit of important customer-service advice: “Smile when you are talking on the phone. The customer can ‘hear’ your smile,” she says.

Dulce chooses to spend much of her leisure time with her grandmother. “She is the rock of our family,” Dulce says. “She taught me how to care for and raise my kids, and she spoils the whole family with her cooking.”

Dulce and her husband, Juan, who works at Elsa’s on the Park (“They make the best starburst martinis ever!” she exclaims of the downtown restaurant), have two sons. Carlos is 7, and Danny is 3. Their vacation trip to Mexico this past summer to visit Juan’s family’s ranch was “the best ever,” Dulce says. “There’s nothing better than seeing your kids smiling and having a good time.”

Dulce is making plans for an important day in her life. She and Juan got married at the courthouse eight years ago, and now they are planning a traditional Catholic wedding with a big reception for Aug. 30, 2013. “My dad wasn’t there to walk me down the aisle, and my whole family will be present this time,” she says. “It’s part of our culture and important to me to have them witness our love and respect and to celebrate with us.”