One of my earliest memories in life involves a garage-housed beading business that I started when I was 10. I cleared my roller skates off of a shelf in my garage and laid out a number of bracelets that I had created with a beading set my mom bought me. I woke up on opening day, got dressed, and at 8:00 a.m. when mom's car was finally out of the middle of my showroom, I opened the garage door. Merchandise was priced to sell but I, unfortunately, had no customers. It lasted two days but it was my first entrepreneurial pursuit and I never lost that spirit.

I was a headstrong, independent, ambitious, and tenacious child. I would put my mind to something and do it, no questions asked. I even managed to get "Baby Bop" in my preschool yearbook because I told the photographer I wouldn't allow my photo to be taken without her. And while my parents could have very well chosen to be more strict with me or even punished me for much of the wild behavior I exhibited as a kid, they didn't. They didn't get angry when the school called and told them I was found in the library picking gum off the tables and preparing them for "earthquakes," they didn't ground me when I threw my own birthday party and invited all of my friends over, and they didn't baby me in high school when I broke down every week because I was overly involved and had no time to sleep. They just let me do whatever I wanted.

See, my parents had it figured out. They gave me boundaries and ground rules and then they basically said "now go do something great." They let me open that garage business as a kid because they could see my wheels turning even at such a young age. As I got older, they never forced me to solely focus on academics, they never forced me to play sports or be involved in clubs, and they never made me limit myself, so I did it all. Because my parents allowed me to learn and grow at my own pace without limitations as a child, I am now able to do the same as an adult.