United Scrap Metal Celebrates 40 Years: Gives Each Team Member Founder's Seed Money
CICERO, Ill., Oct. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marsha Serlin, Founder and CEO of United Scrap Metal, is giving $200 to each of the 500 team members of United Scrap Metal to recognize the 40th anniversary of the company's founding.
The first gifts will be presented on October 15 in St. Louis followed by presentations in Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Chicago and Richmond, Virginia.
Forty years ago Serlin was newly divorced, saddled with debt from her former husband's failed business and a single mom with two young children. Her home was in foreclosure and her car was repossessed. "Let's say I was highly motivated," she says now. She took that motivation and the $200 she had in her bank account and rented a truck. With that she began scrapping, picking up metal from alleys and businesses and turning it in to a local recycling center for cash. "I worked from early morning to late at night while a friend watched my children," said Serlin. "Eventually, I was able to purchase an 8,000 square foot industrial property and opened my own recycling center. Gradually, I purchased adjacent properties and today we own one of the largest scrap metal processing facilities in the Midwest and have expanded to six states."
In 1978 the scrap business was strictly a man's world. There were 400 scrap yards in the Chicago area and none was owned by a woman. "When my competitors saw me they laughed and said I'd be done in six months," Serlin said. "Today, there are only 20 metal recycling centers in the Chicago area and most of those competitors who laughed long ago are out of business."
Building a business from scrap was not and is not easy. "I had to learn this business from the ground up. Today, every one of my employees knows that I've done what they are doing. I didn't have another woman as a role model or a mentor because there were no women in the business," said Serlin. "Today, the environment is much different. Several senior executives in our company are women, as are many of the field personnel. I want women and minorities to have opportunities. I want everyone to have the opportunity to live up to their full potential in whatever role they are in."
United Scrap Metal has been recognized with more than 50 awards including the Illinois Recycling Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, several best places to work awards and many others. The company gives back in every community it serves through charitable donations and sponsoring events such as the Ronald McDonald House Charities annual Recycling Day, as well as supporting more than 30 different non-profit and charitable organizations.
Her advice to women today? "There is nothing you can't do if you are motivated and ask for help. People will offer advice and help because they genuinely want to help. What you do with that advice and help is up to you."
More information is available at www.unitedscrap.com
Media Contact:
Tom Nicholson
212-203-2803
[email protected]
SOURCE United Scrap Metal
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