I grew up in Tempe, Arizona

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16

As I look back on my childhood, I can actually say that I had a very eventful childhood.  Probably not like most kids  playing on sports teams or hobbies.  I was always trying to do as much as I could!

It’s really a strange way to look back at my childhood, but I know now that I was always preparing myself for my current adventure on the internet sharing my lifetime adventures.

I could share with you cute little pictures, but the ones that I will post are the ones that I feel started my business journey.

I was an only child, and my parents were very social and worked very hard.  I always went to their social events and was surrounded by adults all the time.  I was told that I was to keep quiet, sit still,  and play with my doll that I brought.  But little did they know that I was too interested in what the grown ups were talking about and how they moved around the room talking to others.

I didn’t really have kids to hang around, I had pets.  I still to this day think that my pets are people too.

I would talk to them and tell them all about the dinner party that I attended. I remember wanting to grow up and be social, have people invite me to their events and be popular.

Instead of playing sports, my parents sent me to dance classes.  I attended Art Linkletter School of dance and took, ballet, tap and jazz.  I competed in dance competitions, this was my first experience in front of people.

This is me as a little ballerina

I took tap and jazz too.

The lesson that dance taught me was how to present myself in front of an audience.  I loved to perform.  Shirley Temple was my idol and she inspired my dancing.

I started my first business before I was in Kindergarten.  I even designed my own sales page.  I found a product that I could make, that  people wanted.  I picked out flat ordinary rocks out of the alley and put them in a bucket of water.  I would go door to door and sell them for a penny each as polished rocks.  I designed flyers with my upsale and pricing on it.  If you wanted a painted rock, five cents.  And if you wanted me to tumble your rock in my rock polishing kit, it would cost them ten cents.

My rocks were a success!  So much so, that I had to outsource the polished rocks since my tumbler took several days.  In a hobby store I located some polished rocks and sold them.  I even set up a lemonade stand not to sell lemonade, but since it was hot in Phoenix, Arizona, you could sip on lemonade for free, while you shopped for my rocks.

I became quite the salesgirl.  I sold everything including greeting cards, Burpee Seeds, and panty hose.  From the profits, I would buy more discounted product and give them as gifts for holidays and birthdays.  This was very time consuming because there was only one of me.

I was in Camp Fire Girls and we had competitions for selling the most candy.  I knew from my past experience that I wouldn’t be able to sell enough alone.  I had to convince others to help me.  I was learning affiliate marketing.  I would get my mom and dad to take boxes of candy to work and sell.  They were rewarded with great candy of their favorite kind.

My grandfather who was a liquor distributor, took boxes of candy and put them on display at his customer’s stores.  His customers received boxes of candy too.  Since Camp Fire Girls weren’t as popular as Girl Scouts, our boxes of candy were a different treat.  So kids around the neighborhood sold candy for me so they could get free boxes of candy.

I used this same network whenever I needed to sell something.

I grew up with horses and competed in Western Trail, English Jumping, Barrel Racing and Charro Figure Dancing. I had 4 horses.  Big Red in this picture was my favorite.  I raised him, broke him, and won several competitions in English Jumping and Western Trail.  I had a Buckskin Quarter horse, Buck that I competed in barrel racing.  He was very fast and could turn on a dime.  Little Gray was part Appaloosa and Arabian.  She was my horse that I rode for my Charro figure dancing.  I wore fancy Mexican dresses and rode side saddle.  Little Moon was Little Gray’s baby.  I went into the Air Force before she was old enough to ride.

My dad, had polio when he was a child and wore braces and used crutches.  He taught me that there wasn’t anything you couldn’t do if you put your mind to it!  My dad was my investor in all my projects.  If I didn’t have the funds for one of my projects, I would have to draw up a proposal with a budget and present it to him.  If it looked good, he would invest in my project.  After all I was ‘Daddy’s Little Girl!”

I was a junior Rodeo Queen and a State Charro Queen.  In both competitions you had to sell tickets to the rodeos.  You guessed it, with my network in place of course I sold the most tickets!

I wrote essays, telling about my unique story of coming to America and how I too could live the American dream.  Little did I know, that I would actually enlist in the Air Force right out of high school.

In high school, I was in a program that I went to school half time, and worked half time for not only a paycheck, but also school credit.  I learned how to keep track of my finances.

I also competed for Miss National Teenager. This is where I was able to put everything that I learned while growing up to good use.  I had great essay experience with a great story.  I had talent.  I was able to secure sponsors.  And I was very popular.  I came in runner up.  There was one characteristic that I overlooked.  Whenever I look into a mirror, I see myself as being blonde and blue eyed.  And I guess that was a rude awakening to discover I didn’t exactly look like that!

I was always coming up with ways to help worthy causes as you will see later in my journey.  I will leave this portion of my journey with one more cause.  I decided to bring candy to the children’s hospital for Halloween.  I was on radio shows as I collected donated candy to take to a very large children’s hospital in Arizona.  I had more than enough candy donated to not only give to the children at this hospital, but children in other hospitals as well.

I believe that you need to give in order to receive.  I have been so blessed to be able to have given and you will see how I keep giving as my journey continues.

Next My Acting Career