I was born into a household shaped by two very different cultures.

My father was born in Kenya on April 11, 1951. He grew up in a very large, disciplined household. His father had four wives and more than twenty children. Life revolved around responsibility. Everyone had duties connected to the land, cattle, and the family’s livelihood.Structure wasn’t optional where he came from. It was survival.Education became my father’s path forward. He left home at a young age to pursue school in different parts of the world. In many ways, he went against the grain of his upbringing by traveling internationally and eventually pursuing citizenship abroad. His career ultimately centered around education, becoming a college business professor.My father was extremely disciplined and very frugal. He wasn’t a big risk taker in business because of an earlier experience before I was born. He believed in stability. He believed in structure. And he believed that education was the safest and most reliable path forward.For most of my childhood, my father worked away from home during the week and returned on weekends. When he came home, things were different. My siblings and I had to report our progress - how school was going, what we had accomplished, and what responsibilities we had handled.He wasn’t a man who talked a lot, but you felt his presence.Because of that, I grew up respecting him deeply, but also being somewhat afraid to speak freely around him. It wasn’t fear in a negative sense - it was more the weight of knowing he expected discipline.Where my father was quiet and reserved, my mother balanced the household with a completely different energy.

My mother was born April 1, 1959 in Ewarton, Jamaica. She grew up in rural inland Jamaica where everything was manual labor and do-it-yourself survival. Hard work was simply a part of life.She eventually came to the United States and built a career in education, teaching grade school and special-needs children for her entire professional life.My mom was outspoken. She never hesitated to speak the truth or stand on what she believed was right. But she was also nurturing. She created an environment where I felt more comfortable expressing myself than I did with my father.Both of my parents pushed education heavily. My mother earned her master’s degree and my father earned his PhD. They believed strongly that education was the pathway to security and opportunity.Looking back, I realized something interesting.They emphasized school degrees heavily, but not necessarily education in the broader sense of thinking freely or exploring different paths.Still, my parents modeled some incredibly powerful values.

• They modeled work ethic.

• They modeled sacrifice.

• They modeled faith.

And they modeled consistency.Both of my parents worked constantly to provide stability for me and my three siblings. There were many things they likely wanted to do for themselves - travel, entertainment, or personal pursuits - but they sacrificed those things to raise us properly.To this day, my father is still working at seventy-five years old.Faith was also central in our household. We were Seventh-day Adventists, which meant we attended church on Saturdays instead of Sundays. Church activities, youth groups, and religious teachings were regular parts of our lives growing up.My mom especially emphasized biblical principles. She would often remind us to keep our heads on a swivel and always try to do the right thing.But even as a kid growing up in a structured and disciplined household, I found myself thinking about things a little differently.