For a lot of people, the new year is a chance to turn the page on the past and set their sights on the future. As we ease our way into 2024, WNYC’s Community Partnerships desk is highlighting stories in our communities that focus on the idea of fresh starts. Saul Serrano is a personal trainer in New York City. He came up through a program called A Second U Foundation, which helps formerly incarcerated men and women build careers in the fitness industry.
The transcript of Saul Serrano's story has been lightly edited for clarity.
My name is Saul Serrano. My age is 51. I really like my career now. My company is called Supa Physique Personal Training. And it's amazing. I have about 10 clients. I'm from New York City, born and raised, midtown Manhattan. Once I graduated from high school, DeWitt Clinton in the Bronx, I joined the Marine Corps, and I was there for four years during Operation Desert Storm. There was a lot of racism in there. I was bullied a lot in there. Then it gets interesting. So, this is the part where everything kind of goes bad. I was doing the right thing in Marine Corps, but then I started getting involved with illegal activities and stuff like that. And it got kind of weird. I got discharged from the Marine Corps. I lost a lot of my honor and a lot of respect there.
I came home and I changed myself. I got a little better. I got a job, but once again, I kind of screwed myself up and got involved with some illegal activity. I got involved with what they call a wire fraud scheme. I violated my probation. I got caught up in some other stuff. The judge gave me 13 months behind bars and 3-years probation. I got out of that. I kind of changed it around finally. I got some therapy in there. I took a drug treatment program. I started understanding why I was doing the things I was doing. And once I understood why I was doing these things, I stopped. It's social acceptance, trying to have money, trying to fit in, trying to be that person. Those 13 months in jail made me really reflect on that. I took the course, the certifications, and I started seeing the kind of income you can make being a personal trainer. And it's like, whoa, this is a good opportunity. I can see myself making money here. I can see myself doing this.
The thing is words stay with you in titles, right? So, you say to somebody they're kind of ugly. They start thinking they're ugly, right? So that's a thing, right? If you say, he's a felon, an ex-con. No, you're a person who did something wrong and you did your stuff, and you came home and you're a returning citizen and you're reformed, and you need to do the right thing and that means that you got to start all over and that's okay.
It's not a game, it's my life. So, I'm making better choices, better decisions now and giving back to my community is what I need to do.