"W hen I was age 10 to 14, I worked cutting lawns and shoveling snow, but at 14 I got my first real job where I got an actual paycheck and had to pay taxes. I got $2 an hour working at a landscaping and fencing company: Boardman Landscape and Fence Company in Boardman Township, south of Youngstown, Ohio. It wasn't walkable, but it was close to where I lived.

"I built fences, loaded fertilizer and peat moss into cars, unloaded trucks, sold flowers and things. It was everything from the wholesale side to resale. I'd also go along on deliveries on the truck to help unload. It was hard work in the hot summer sun, but I've never minded labor. The job was for the summer while I was out of school, then it carried into the fall and I would work afternoons; there wasn't much work in the winter. The best part of it was that-even at $2 an hour-I had a well-paying job.

"I got the job by knowing a number of other people who were working for the company. A train carload came in-I believe it was peat moss-and they needed help unloading. They liked how I worked, so they hired me. It may have been the start [to my career] in that it was the first job I had working in construction, which led into going to college for engineering.

"Since age 14 I've never been unemployed. One thing I've learned from all my work experiences is that hard work pays off."

-Interviewed by Katie S. Betz