Persevere Under Pressure

After one bad break turned into many, I learned the value of second chances.

IN 2002, WHEN I WAS 23 years old, the career I'd always wanted looked to be over before it even started. One night in Michigan, after a bartender cut me off from tipping back way too many whiskeys, I proceeded to tear his bar apart. Malicious destruction of property, as it turns out, is a felony in the state. I had long wanted to be a lawyer. When I asked the court-appointed attorney representing me if he thought that was still possible, he shot back: "Not if you're convicted of a felony."

My life, addled by addiction, spiraled down from there. I added five more felony convictions to my rap sheet in the next four years, all offenses related to selling drugs or supporting my drug habit, which included marijuana, cocaine, and heroin. I had lost hope. But it wasn't gone forever. Little did I know, I was acquiring the kind of lessons and values that I-and other founders-could use to build a business.

After living in hotels or on the street, I woke up one winter morning-I had been sleeping on a couch in the outpatient surgery waiting area of a hospital because it was warm-with the memory of my grandmother telling me that an education could never be taken away. In a brief moment of clarity, I walked down to the ER and a kind nurse helped me get admitted to a treatment facility in Detroit.