Monica LaSalle, Peak to Peak. There are people who are born with a proverbial silver spoon in their mouths, given every opportunity to grow and thrive from the moment they enter the world. Family connections provide influence on their path as they seem to slide obliviously and without effort, beyond showing up at the appointed time. 

Then, there are the rest of us. Growing up in a tough part of New Jersey, Sal DeVincenzo grew up in a divorced household and learned early on he was going to have to make his own way. He accounts his success in life to a few key people who showed up in his life at just the right time to keep him out of trouble and his nose to the grindstone.

At the age of 10, he met a man he calls Joey, who owned a hardware store in his neighborhood and hired him to help out. Joey began teaching him about life, fixing and building things for the next few years until he was old enough to take over running the business. He dropped out of high school and proceeded to apply his hard-earned business acumen toward this particular entrepreneurial endeavor.

Soon after, he met a man he refers to only as Nicky another tough but nurturing businessman who took Sal under his wing and showed him the ropes of the auto repair business by putting him to work repairing vehicles and learning to run his business. 

These two men, he says with an accent slightly tinged with a Jersey edginess, pretty much saved him from the rough and slippery slope of the Jersey neighborhood they all called home. They kept him on the straight and narrow, setting him up with a foundation to maintain a solid life and success. 

As I sit across from him sipping coffee, I see him stare briefly off in the distance and I know he is remembering many of his old friends and acquaintances that he says did not follow the same path early on, people who are no longer alive because they either weren’t able to take advantage of similar opportunities or chose other more dangerous paths that caused their early demise. He says he is lucky to have met a handful of people who influenced him toward a successful life, but I see a determination reflected in his demeanor, a compassion and appreciation for working hard to succeed, earned the hard way. 

In 1988, Sal met a woman named Ellie at the auto repair shop who was getting her car ready for a big move to Colorado. Another serendipitous encounter, she left the shop after extending an invitation for him to come visit her in Boulder whenever he liked. He took her up on it, and by the time he moved in 1989, his friend Ellie had met and married Wolf, of Wolf’s Foreign Car Care on Folsom Street, in Boulder. He worked for Wolf for a while until he was offered the chance to buy the business, an offer of which he promptly took advantage. He ran the business for 27 years, wrenching all the while and eventually learning how to fix his work computers rather than pay for anyone to fix them as they broke down.

He and his wife Karen were living in a home in Bar K, outside of Jamestown, all the while, so when his neighbor passed away suddenly, he saw his first chance to pay it forward. His neighbor left behind two teenage sons who were rocked by the sudden loss of their father and floundering in life. He offered them jobs and put them to work, teaching them the ropes of the industry as much as they were willing. 

In 2017, the building that housed his business was sold, and he was forced to look for another location to continue his trade. Something made him reconsider, however, and he made an offer to one of his employees, his neighbor Devon, who promptly bought the business from him. He was then free to change his path and pursue a computer repair and consulting business. 

Out of this business he made many contacts, working on networks for other businesses. One of these was Paula Dupre-Pesman, an influential film producer who had left that career behind and moved to Boulder to set up There With Care, an organization dedicated to serving families with critically ill children. 

Sal began working with the organization, donating time providing tech support and event support with his photography. He also fixed vehicles for the families they serve. Sal is very proud of contributing to the success of such an honorable organization; as well he should be. 

It seems he has dedicated his life to not only seizing every opportunity in life, but to paying forward all his luck in attracting mentors and influential people that have come with said opportunities. Which brings us to his current business, SDV Photo. 

Born of another of Sal’s mentors, Mike Oliver, he began working for Oliver helping him cover his school photo contracts after years of being a self-proclaimed photography enthusiast due to the birth of his son, Max. He describes his work with Oliver as giving him the confidence he needed to go out and do it on his own. He opened a studio in his home 5 years ago, and has been working out of it ever since as well as recently contributing his considerable talent to The Mountain Ear. 

Without a doubt, Sal is a man who oozes enthusiasm for life as well as a generosity born of his humble beginnings. His eye for life’s opportunities can be seen in the composition of his photography as well as in his amiable personality. 

(Originally published in the May 9, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)