Thanks for asking. 1) spent 2 years in an MFA program in Stage management at Rutgers. I have dozens of blog posts in me about what theatre teaches you that is

Thanks for asking. 1) spent 2 years in an MFA program in Stage management at Rutgers. I have dozens of blog posts in me about what theatre teaches you that is directly applicable to business especially the collaborative nature of software development. 2) I burned out. I saw how Tony award winning lighting designers lived and realized that my desire to make art wasn't greater than my desire for health care, vacation and a nice place to live. 3) I took a year off to be an admin assistant. this was at the dawn of computers at every desk. Because I'd built my first computer at the age of 10, and taught myself to program in basic in junior high, I was very comfortable with computers and troubleshooting. I quickly morphed into the office computer guru. installed network cards, taught the CEO of the mergers and acquisitions firm how to use a mouse (!), etc. As a fun aside one of my tasks was to print out my boss'e mail for him. :P 4) Fortunately this same boss took a shine to me (in a not creepy way) and taught me a lot about finance, balance sheets, and how deals got done. He said to me one day, you're smart enough to be on the other side of the desk, go do something with your life. 5) I took a job working for a company that sold equipment to the entertainment industry, turned around my first division of the company at the age of 25 (just as the internet rose), then took over a sales territory and tripled it. (that, along with my sales experience got me fantastic references) 6) About this time I got encouragement to go to business school since it was obvious I had a knack for it. I got good advice to not bother unless it was one of the best. 7) I took 3 classes to prove my status and A+ed all them: microeconomics, business math, and accounting. University of Connecticut night school, while working full time. 8) I studied long and hard for the GMAT and got a great score.(again I was just before the online practice questions. I used to sneak the test booklets out of kaplan, and photocopy them so I could work problem sets on the plane.)I scored high enough on the GMAT that when I graduated in the horrific post 9/11 economy I got a job at Kaplan teaching gmat classes here in SF. 9) I wrote good essays about the future of Tech and its impact on the entertainment industry--which have all since come to pass (i.e. content proliferation, the rising value of top talent). 10) Accepted to Cornell Johnson School at the age of 30 (top 10 school). 11) if I May humblebrag, in spite of the fact that I majored in finance so that I could improve my math skills, which cost me GPA, I still finished in the top third of my class. Was luck a factor? for sure. But so was my persistence, drive, and commitment. Going through this process taught me a lot about those things. About never giving up. About working hard. I came from a dirt poor family and the internet didn't exist, so there was no one to really mentor me early on and I had to fix the mistakes of doubt and lack of self confidence and ignorance I'd made as a young woman. People ask me how I got the courage to start a company. After what I just described, after pulling myself out of the hole of poverty and debt, this is a cakewalk.