Page 50 - WilmU - Spring 2017

ALUMNI
One of Cotto’s first grown-up decisions was to get a two- year associate degree in Business Administration. With some tuition assistance, he enrolled at the Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical and Community College. Meanwhile, he held down a full-time job in construction.
That prompted him to join the management training program at Happy Harry’s (now Walgreens) pharmacy chain. “I took a big pay cut, but I got benefits,” he says.
Cotto went on to manage a few of the stores and got to know Alan Levin, who was then president of the company and later served as director of the Delaware Economic Development Office. “He called everybody by their first name, got to know you, and made everybody feel like family,” Cotto says. “That was one thing that kept me there.”
Says Levin: “I remember Carlos as someone who came into the management program looking for direction. He loved what he was doing, so he moved quickly through the ranks. It usually takes five to 10 years to make manager, but he made it in four. I’m not surprised at the success he’s had. A lot of people are content to put in a day’s work and go home, but Carlos never looked at it that way. He had a lot of drive.”
Working full-time, Cotto took six years to earn his associate degree in 2000, but he graduated with no student debt, thanks to scholarships and Pell Grants.
A construction career no longer on his radar, Cotto decided to make use of his newfound talent for managing debits and credits. He went to a career fair in Wilmington and landed a job in the accounting department at PFPC Financial Services Group. He rose quickly in the company, becoming a supervisor and then manager within a few years.
Still, he was restless. “The work started getting easy,” he says, “and I wanted to move up. I had the experience, but I felt my two-year degree was holding me back.”
diagnosed with pneumonia. He spent three weeks in the hospital, then six weeks recuperating at home. His wife’s part-time job was their only income.
The illness left Cotto with a lot of time to think, and his mind drifted back to his childhood. He grew up in Newark with an older brother and younger sister. They were raised by their single mother, who had come to the U.S. from Puerto Rico when she was six months pregnant with Carlos. She was on disability throughout his childhood, and the family lived in Section 8 housing, moving frequently.
He says his mother did the best she could by him and his siblings. “We lived below the poverty line, but we were always her priority. We never went hungry and we always had a roof over our heads.”
But when it came to education, her life experiences and her upbringing conspired to set a low bar for her children. “She told me to get my high school diploma, but to forget about college,” Cotto says. “She would say, ‘college isn’t for people like us.’”
Fortunately, he also remembered some much more positive advice. “When I dropped out of school I moved in with a friend,” he says, “and his mother always encouraged me to go back to school and to think about college. I lived with them for a while, doing chores, paying rent, and she became like a second mother to me. We’re still very close.”
Cotto took the advice of his “second mother,” and began a journey
in education that continues today; one in which Wilmington University has played a large part. What’s more, he’s inspiring others in the Hispanic community to follow his path.
“I grew up some while I was sick,” Cotto says. One of his first grown-up decisions was to get a two-year associate degree in Business Administration. With some tuition assistance, he enrolled at the Wilmington campus of Delaware Technical and Community College. Meanwhile, he held down a full-time job in construction. “My idea was to start my own construction company,” he says. “I knew everything about the business, inside and out.”
But soon after starting classes at Del Tech, he had a couple of revelations that altered his career plans. The first came in the classroom. “I discovered I had a talent for accounting,” he says. “I would be the first one done with tests, and I was always one of just one or two people who got A’s on the tests.”
And then he had an on-the-job revelation. With the hint of a smile, he says, “I noticed that there was almost no one over 40 working in construction.”
Not only did the work seem to be a young man’s game, it also took significant time away from family, and Cotto’s wife had their second child — a daughter — while he was enrolled at Del Tech. “I wanted to watch my kids grow up,” he says, “and I knew in construction I’d have to spend eight hours a day on the job and then spend another three hours trying to get the next job.”
48 WilmU magazine