"I had just been featured in the Wall Street Journal for my journey to becoming a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries. Even more so, I was now a Black woman Fellow Actuary. People from around the globe reached out to congratulate me and to let me know that my story had inspired them. I was humbled, but I felt that few knew how much more of my journey needed to be shared. My whole personal story could eventually inspire many more, especially those who looked like me and came from my same basic roots. My path to becoming a Fellow Actuary would have never even started had I not been shown grace at a time when I nearly self-destructed. I was a rebellious youth who ended up being arrested by the police, but I was given a chance to redeem myself so that one day I could inspire youth living in neighborhoods like the ones in which I grew up. The level I had achieved as a Black Fellow Actuary was not something commonly seen among those of us who grew up in Air-Bel, on the South Side of Chicago, or in L'abbaye."
- From the Introduction