Vanessa Ramos
Personal Banker, El Rey

How long she’s been at North Shore Bank: Two years and nine months.

How she got into banking, and what she did before: I wanted to do something different. I used to work at a nursing home, as a CNA. I was thinking about becoming a nurse, but you get to interact a lot with the doctors and nurses, and I realized it wasn’t for me. My husband and I had a construction business — we did remodels and new construction, lots of work on the exteriors of homes. But he had to go back to Mexico, and I needed to find something else. I was looking online for jobs, and an opening at North Shore came up. When I applied, I didn’t think I was going to start a whole career in banking!

Other jobs she’s held at North Shore Bank: I started at Northside as a Teller, and then went to Regency and became a Universal Banker, and later a Teller Supervisor. I transferred to El Rey last August to be a Personal Banker.

Family: My daughter Shaila — it’s pronounced “CHAI-la,” with a hard “ch”; it’s a Mexican name — is 2.

What Vanessa has been into lately: Gardening. When my husband was here, we’d go all out and plant lots of vegetables and flowers. I really haven’t been able to so much because I’ve been busy with my daughter, but I’m getting back on it. I’m just doing mostly veggies. On Sunday we planted chilies and tomatoes and zucchini — turned up the soil and got all dirty. It’ll all go in some good Mexican dishes.