My story is not one you’ll hear in today’s media. I grew up in North Carolina but I’m not that great a Southerner since I never had the accent nor found it sexy on a man, don’t care for country music and didn’t get married out of high school or even college.

When I was 5 years old, I wanted to live in NYC and never stopped talking about it. I got here after marrying my now ex-husband and graduating law school. Over a decade later, after fighting and winning some battles that warrant a mini-series I’m still in NYC.

It may be hard to believe but I was not a girl who was considered pretty or popular growing up and I don’t come from money.

In fact, my childhood was an adventure and definitely had elements you wouldn’t expect like diversity and inclusion, battles against authority figures where I won and generally defying anyone’s notions of “smart kid” and “poor kid.”

If I hadn’t believed I could get out of my hometown or had people who insisted I live out my dreams and ignore the haters, I’d have eventually ended up dead or in prison since I’d have become a master vigilante.

In college, I was a founding member of a sorority chapter filled with girls who saw themselves as anti-”sorority girl” tropes. I definitely didn’t consider myself a “sorority girl” and hadn’t quite embraced “pretty girl” by that point but was kind of fascinated when cute guys started taking legitimate interest in me.

Being in the sorority and taking Business Organizations (Corporate Law) in law school led to my start working as the CEO’s Executive Assistant in a small indie film company where I was made a partner 2 weeks after getting admitted to the NY bar. I was Production Executive/In-House Counsel for over 9 years and was never placed in any type of box. I was even asked to audition for a film role at the CEO’s invitation and solicited to write my own web series (a script I’ve still got).

From a love of the creative side and stage performance that started in elementary school combined with not wanting to be seen as someone who used the lawyer card to get creative gigs, I’ve taken various classes in NYC to get all sorts of training. This led to professional representation while also being a licensed attorney in NY & CT.

One of my ultimate goals is to create my own film production company, perhaps my own little realm like Tyler Perry’s but where my truth and that of other outsiders who don’t fit inside anybody’s box get a space (making diversity and inclusion reality vs. a trendy phrase). Trying to fence me in or command me is like trying to control a tornado or a hurricane. If you hate ego queens, then we’ll get along great.