Isonia Serrano has achieved quite a bit in her 35 years on the Smarties sweet manufacturing unit: She has labored her manner from machine operator to main her personal workforce, develop into an skilled in candy-making and mentored dozens of staff. She even fell in love there. The rolls of pastel-colored Smarties are a nostalgic fixture of Halloween pails, arcades, film theaters and valentines — and 4.5 million of them are made every day in Union, N.J., thanks partially to Ms. Serrano.
Accompanied by her husband, Edwin Duarte, a mechanic on the firm, Ms. Serrano exhibits up on the manufacturing unit every day round 6 a.m. For the subsequent 9 hours, it’s her job to make sure that each a part of the method runs easily: that the rolls are tightly wrapped, that the sweet flavors keep constant, that no chipped items are packaged. Ms. Serrano is equal components disciplined and hilarious, strict and caring. When she and her husband are on the manufacturing flooring, they’re all enterprise.
When Ms. Serrano joined the corporate, she was within the midst of a divorce, struggling to boost and feed her two daughters by herself. Now she’s the matriarch of two massive, united households — the one at residence, and the one she has cultivated at work.
