PILLAR 1: BUSINESS, DRIVE, AND THE MAKING OF A BUILDER

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Business? I probably should have come out of the womb with a certificate from Harvard on the Hill. Relax. I said Harvard on the Hill, not the real one. I am not that much of a prodigy. I had no attention span for school, cubicles, or pretending I was built for a normal career path

Some kids played house. I played business.

At 8, I ran a lemonade stand so profitable the country club  built a wall to shut me out
At 10, I was calling parents from the school directory to sell ballet lessons out of my driveway. I did not even know it was called cold calling
At 12, I was subcontracting babysitters and running my own little operation.
By 16, I was supervising adults twice my age

I finished my credits early, so senior year they pulled me out of regular high school and sent me to a neighboring school to earn business credits instead. While everyone else was worrying about prom and parking passes, I was over there learning things that actually thrilled me. It was, honestly, glorious

By 19, I was making $30 an hour in the 90's while sitting in college classrooms thinking, this cannot be the finish line

Business was never just about money for me

It energized me in a way nothing else ever had

To this day, YouTube and podcasts are my TV. I am always learning, always evolving

I have worked from home for over fifteen years, built businesses for myself and for corporations, and even written training manuals for Fortune 500 companies. So if you ever need business advice or want to learn how to actually connect with people, stick around. I share tips and tricks all the time

I like using the creative side of my brain. A nine to five would be a slow death for me

And it turns out that same creative wiring did not stop at business

It went looking for a stage

Back then, the pageant circuit sold a very specific dream. If you won, or even placed in the top ten, talent scouts were watching. Modeling contracts. Acting contracts. Real money. Some very well known actresses my age came straight out of these exact pageants. This was not fantasy to us. This was the pipeline

And in my 9-10 yr old brain, the math was simple

If I could win, I could get to Hollywood

If I could get to Hollywood, I could make my family a lot of money

The crown was never the point

The crown was the ticket

So I rehearsed for hours after school

I practiced my model stance obsessively

I treated pageants like a business strategy, not a hobby

Winning felt like the plan

And on paper, it all made perfect sense

Until it didn’t

Because what looks like ambition at 10 can turn into something else entirely once your worth, your body, and your future get tied to being judged under stage lights

And that is where the next part of the story actually begins

Pillar 2, Health and Body, click below