Sang Lee is my heart and soul,
and the culture,
and the food that we eat.
Sang Lee means
the community that we live in.
Sang Lee farms was started in the 1940s
and has been in the Lee family
now for three generations.
Understanding firsthand
some of the challenges
that my parents went through,
trying to run a successful
family-owned business
really drives my passion to provide
that level of guidance
to help my clients.
The farm was started by my uncles
and my dad
to grow Chinese vegetables
for the New York Chinatown area.
It expanded over the years.
I grew up on the farm,
but I felt in my heart that
I didn't want to do that
for the rest of my life.
So I went to college
and in my last semester
my father passed away,
so I felt an obligation
to help the family.
And so the first big hurdle was
the discussion of
the transition of the business.
My uncle said,
“You can buy the farmland
or we're going to sell it.”
And I remember thinking that
I don't even have a savings account.
If it weren't for the
ability to borrow from banks,
we would not have been able
to operate at all.
As bankers, our job is to really
help business owners
to understand solutions
that can truly make
their lives simpler.
If we think about the operating side
from a lending standpoint,
all of the machinery and everything
that it takes to run this farm.
If we think about moving from
one generation to the next,
helping with retirement planning,
these would all be capabilities
that at Santander
we could bring to the table.
I've been told I was
a marketing genius
to make the transition to organic
before consumer trend changes.
But the truth of the matter is,
I didn't want to spray the vegetables
with chemical pesticides
that I was going to feed my kids
or eat myself.
Ultimately, the risk did pay off.
I always helped out part time
on the farm through high school.
And after college
I worked in the city for a little bit.
I did some finance work
and it was so clear
and evident that the family farm was
growing something the people
in the community loved.
And so making the choice
to work on the family farm
was pretty straightforward.
I want to step back
and away from the business
to have Will and Lucy, Will's partner,
taking over a lot of the day-to-day
management and also our community-
supported agriculture program,
our CSA, is very comforting.
Will and I, we both decided
to commit to the farm.
It's very gratifying work.
It's very challenging work.
But in the end, we're both doing
what we love and being able
to see the history of the farm
and then also look to the future.
It's very satisfying in my soul.
If we think about the transitioning
from one generation to the next,
to just have 100 percent control
of a business could be overwhelming.
So handing off responsibility slowly
is a good strategy.
It feels like a pretty big weight
on my shoulders, but I also have
a lot of pride and joy
running the family business.
When I grew up at Sang Lee,
we had this one parcel
and we leased across the street.
And now Sang Lee manages
five different farms.
We have a retail business
that's open seven days a week.
We go to three farmer's markets.
We have hundreds of CSA members.
We're traveling all the way to Brooklyn
and back twice a week.
We have a certified organic kitchen.
So, we're trying to handle more
diverse aspects of agriculture.
And hopefully the future of agriculture
will continue to cut a path
with Sang Lee as part of it.
All businesses look for ways to just
be innovative and to do better than
what was done from one generation
to the next.
For Sang Lee Farm,
incorporating direct to consumer,
as well as going organic,
would be things that all attributed
to their success.
My advice for business owners is
let's ensure that we have a plan
for you to retire.
Let's ensure that you're on track
with that plan where your business
is continuing to run, but then
you have that ability to step away
and enjoy retirement.
That level of guidance
that I would want from my parents
is what I want to be able to provide
for our customers.
It is somewhat complex to figure out
what's the best options for me
to not just transition the business,
but to be able to exit gracefully,
with something to show for
my life's work.
Ultimately, the transition of the farm
will be easier than
when I came into the business,
and I think my father and my uncles
would be very proud
to see where we are today.