Leah Sullo Wants Young People to THINK BIG

Leah Sullo discusses overcoming hardships and setting big goals.

Leah Sullo grew up in Jackson Houses in the South Bronx as the second oldest daughter in a family of girls. Her family has lived in the apartment for three generations: her grandparents, mother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and siblings have all called the apartment home. To Ms. Sullo, Jackson Houses has always been home.

From an early age, Ms. Sullo learned how important school is from her mother. her mother scrimped and saved to send them to Catholic schools. Ms. Sullo loved learning and spent every hour she could in school.

Her family moved out of Jackson Houses while Ms. Sullo was still in middle school and spent many years traversing the East Coast from the Bronx to Florida and back again, living with family and friends. For a time during high school, Ms. Sullo and her family were homeless, but she did not let this distract from her education.

“It was always a struggle. We never made enough money for anything, we lost our house a couple of times, I was homeless during high school, but education was the one thing that was constant and consistent in my life. School was my haven,” Ms. Sullo said.

She graduated from high school in Florida as valedictorian of her class and went on to attend Columbia University. Ms. Sullo majored in finance and math, and found a job immediately after graduation at Mizuho Americas Bank. Yet, when she started working and making money, she did not feel fulfilled. She realized that working at a bank was not enough.

“It didn’t seem fair to me that all of a sudden I’m in this big girl job, making all this money. I needed to give something back to my community too,” Ms. Sullo says. “So I now manage the community outreach program at my bank.”

“The majority of my community outreach clients are affordable housing clients. We provide funding for people to build affordable housing in the city, in the neighborhoods like the one I grew up in,” she explains. “Now I am not only paying my bills and supporting my family, I am also changing the lives of many other New Yorkers.”

Ms. Sullo said if she could give any advice to young people living in NYCHA housing, it would be to never set limits: “The only limits that exist are the ones you create for yourself. Don’t listen to anyone that tells you ‘you can’t.’ Never tell yourself that ‘you can’t.’ If you believe you can do it, and you seek out the resources that you need, then anything is possible.”