I was born being so extremely me that no matter how I tried to fit in the weird always leaked out. Not that I tried very hard. I went my own way. The way that felt right. It led me from the Hill Country of Texas to Houston to New York City. I’ve often worked with startups in my career, publishing, advertising and most recently tech. My broad skill set in design, art and writing is an asset to visionary entrepreneurs. It’s exciting and volatile and extremely hard work.

But working for startups is a precarious existence. Most startups fail. Some of the ones I worked for did and some didn’t. Some of them went through transitions and evolved into something else. A big one went under owing me money and I lost my apartment of 26 years. I fled to the Ozarks-level backwater of NYC boroughs, Staten Island, and bunked with my boyfriend living out of a suitcase for two years.

I had traded stability for adventure but there was no going back and there was no regretting it. I had to figure out a way to move forward. My way was to decide it was finally time to take my own shot at entrepreneurship and write the stories that I’ve been wanting to write my entire life. What have I got to lose?

It’s been a long time coming. I hope you’ll join me for the ride.