“I got very lucky. I started working for a family firm right...

“I got very lucky. I started working for a family firm right out of high school. I was just doing clerical stuff in the back room at first. But whenever the boss’s kids didn’t show up for work, I’d raise my hand and say: ‘I can do that!’ So I started to be given more and more responsibility. I was one of the only women on the floor back then. The guys wanted to teach me as much as possible, because that meant they could take more breaks. I used to get teased but I didn’t care, because my older sister had been calling me an idiot my whole life. I thought: ‘Yell at me all you want, I’m going to use you for all the knowledge you have.’ Pretty soon, I was yelling right back at them.”