Newlywed’s Catchy Tune Leads to $250,000 Wells Fargo Contest Win

Musician and teacher in Philadelphia suburb is third winner of “What Makes a Home” contest

Jim Linnane, Senior Vice President and Divisional Sales Manager with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, and Rocco Tenaglia, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Consultant, present Leslie Poprik and B.J. Capelli with a $250,000 check at their home in Ardmore, Pennsylvania. Leslie is the third winner of Wells Fargo's "What Makes a Home" contest. The newlyweds made a video performing a song they wrote to answer the contest question, "What makes a place feel like a home?" (Photo: Business Wire)

DES MOINES, Iowa--()--A video with images of home that included backyard barbecues, relaxing and playing music with her Boston terrier – all set to a toe-tapping tune – propelled newlywed Leslie Poprik of Ardmore, Pennsylvania to win $250,000 in the Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) “What Makes a Home” contest.

Both musicians and private music teachers, Leslie and her husband, B.J. Capelli, were married in September and wrote the song “That’s What Makes a Place Feel Like Home” for the winning video. They received the exciting news the same day they returned home from their honeymoon.

“What a great way to kick off our new chapter,” Leslie said about winning. “It’s certainly going to help with our home purchase, and we’re very excited about that. We have wanted to buy a house for the stability it will give us, but we also want to expand the work we are doing with music and reach more people. The contest win will give us a huge boost to do all of it: help secure our home and financial future as well as our creative and professional future.”

Leslie is the third of three winners to win $250,000 for submitting, in words and images, an answer to the contest question: “What makes a place feel like a home?” Her entry is available at www.wellsfargo.com/homecontest. This is the first contest of its kind by Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

The contest win will help the couple move closer to their goal of homeownership and allow their passion for music to have a broader reach. B.J. is publishing a book to help non-musicians learn to play the drums; the book also serves as the foundation for a corporate team-building program the couple has developed. Leslie is creating an online course to teach people with traditional piano training how to easily play their favorite pop and rock songs.

“Wells Fargo is very excited for Leslie and B.J. as they begin their life together and we congratulate them on being our third “What Makes a Home” contest winner,” said Greg Gwizdz, executive vice president and retail sales manager, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “The video displayed exceptional creativity and the catchy lyrics drove home the message of how important a home can be to building a stable future.”

When Leslie and B.J. decided to develop the video for the contest, they were in the middle of planning their wedding. However, with wedding plans in full swing, the creative couple quickly created the submission. B.J. got the idea for the song and shared it with Leslie, who thought it was a hit. Leslie said the most fun in the process was taking those lyrics and connecting them to images. They shot the images and edited the video in two days. Images in the entertaining piece show the couple in their backyard, relaxing indoors and playing music with their Boston terrier Berklee, who displays his tambourine-playing skills, and reenacting the iconic American Gothic painting with the pitchfork.

“That’s the most iconic image of home that we could think of, and it seemed to fit that part of the song,” B.J. said. “So then I had to run out and get the pitchfork.”

B.J. shares his wife’s excitement about being able to share their love for music more broadly, especially with students. Inspired by love for their pet Berklee, the couple also plans to donate a portion of their winnings to Northeast Boston Terrier Rescue.

“We are fortunate to have a career that allows us to do the thing we’re most passionate about and share that with students of all ages,” B.J. said. “Music is important for young students in their development and many of them don’t necessarily have that in school, so we bridge that gap. For adults, it is fun, reduces stress and sparks their creativity. We’d like to bring music to as many people as possible.”

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.6 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,700 locations, 12,500 ATMs, and the internet (wellsfargo.com), and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 265,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 29 on Fortune’s 2014 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.

Contacts

Media
Wells Fargo & Company
Veronica Clemons, 704-715-5145
Veronica.c.clemons@wellsfargo.com
@VClemonsWF

Release Summary

A video with a catchy tuned penned with her husband led newlywed Leslie Poprik of Ardmore, PA, to be the third $250,000 winner in the Wells Fargo What Makes a Home contest.

Contacts

Media
Wells Fargo & Company
Veronica Clemons, 704-715-5145
Veronica.c.clemons@wellsfargo.com
@VClemonsWF