If you’ve ever listened to my show or perused my website you probably know my story, but I’ll sum it up just in case. I’m the youngest of nine in a blue collar family. We always had what we needed but not much of what we wanted. My parents loved us, worked hard, blah blah blah, but I wanted stuff and I dedicated my whole existence to getting out of my parents’ house and having all the things I needed and wanted: a dry towel after a shower, a whole half a bed, name-brand ice cream–ya know, the finer things in life. In pursuit of theses dreams, I worked like a dog waitressing six nights a week while going to community college, transferring to Harvard on a full scholarship and ultimately getting a JD-MBA from Stanford. In the course of these pursuits, I accumulated mass quantities of debt and found the man of my dreams (or at least the raw material out of which that man could be crafted). I became an investment banker to pay the debts off–and to start racking up the towels and ice cream–and in thinking I could have it all, I moved to Dallas from Money-Making Manhattan to accommodate my husband’s career, maintain my own and even start a family.
Unfortunately, shortly after the wedding and the move to Dallas,