It's sad to say, but sometimes I guess I have an inferiority complex. It's not because I'm short (let's just say my stature is Alice B. Toklas-esque ), but more because of the size of my native country, El Salvador.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud to be Salvadoran. My country is beautiful , with black sand beaches, waterfalls, great weather. And we make some delicious food . But when your nickname is El Pulgarcito de America ("The Little Thumb of America"), that's got to have an effect. At only 8400 square miles – about the size of Massachusetts – El Salvador is the smallest country in America  and one of the smallest in the world.

With the arrival of Hispanic Heritage Month , I've been thinking more about my family's heritage. Thinking about my life back in El Salvador, I asked my mom, "Why do I remember coffee beans when I think of my grandpa?"

My grandparents lived in the country and earned a living by selling fireworks . Fireworks are a very important part of any type of celebration in El Salvador. But on the side, my grandpa sold coffee from trees that grew on his property. Grandpa's parents were coffee growers , and these trees were the remnants of the labor and subsistence of preceding generations. I wish I could travel back in time to experience my great-grandparents' lives, which were so very different from mine.

Though I'm disconnected from the world they lived in, I realized this month that working with Wells Fargo's history lets me make connections with this past – connections which bring a smile to face. During the 1890s, the British built rail lines in El Salvador  to transport coffee across the country. Wells Fargo used these railroads as the infrastructure for its express business in the country. By 1916, Wells Fargo offices had appeared on most of the rail lines in El Salvador. I imagine my great-grandparents beginning their lives as coffee growers right about that time. I wonder: Did Wells Fargo express their coffee at some point?

Now I believe the name Pulgarcito is quite apt for my country. Anyone familiar with the tale of Tom Thumb  understands Pulgarcito. Though tiny, he was smart, prudent, sly, and "all he did prospered." El Salvador was not overlooked by important businesses of the time such as Wells Fargo, and it produced the family I'm happy to be a part of.

El Salvador definitely has something in common with its tiny namesake.