WEBVTT 00:00:06.903 --> 00:00:08.708 Today, I want to ask you: 00:00:08.708 --> 00:00:11.633 what does it mean to live free? 00:00:11.633 --> 00:00:14.838 Here in America we all live free. Right? 00:00:14.838 --> 00:00:18.031 We have the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, 00:00:18.031 --> 00:00:20.630 right to a fair trial, 00:00:20.630 --> 00:00:25.139 but is that all that really exists to living free? 00:00:25.139 --> 00:00:29.930 For me, it's not. There's a whole lot more to it. 00:00:29.930 --> 00:00:34.829 It means living your life pursuing your passion. 00:00:34.829 --> 00:00:38.587 It means living a life that makes you truly happy, 00:00:38.587 --> 00:00:41.021 Not one that makes your friends happy, 00:00:41.021 --> 00:00:42.877 the celebrities happy, 00:00:42.877 --> 00:00:46.724 one that makes you happy. 00:00:47.524 --> 00:00:49.643 It means not letting the small setbacks 00:00:49.643 --> 00:00:51.342 that are bound to happen 00:00:51.342 --> 00:00:54.001 get in the way of your day-to-day life. 00:00:54.001 --> 00:00:56.909 It means not wishing your days away 00:00:56.909 --> 00:00:59.433 just to get to the weekend. 00:00:59.433 --> 00:01:04.155 I think that a lot of us aren't living free. 00:01:04.155 --> 00:01:07.208 We let the day-to-day negativities 00:01:07.208 --> 00:01:12.105 get in the way of pursuing our dreams and our happiness. 00:01:12.105 --> 00:01:14.963 I was fortunate enough just recently 00:01:14.963 --> 00:01:19.472 to be pushed into the lifestyle of living free. 00:01:19.472 --> 00:01:21.353 It was a very roundabout manner, 00:01:21.353 --> 00:01:24.794 it was a very inopportune situation, 00:01:24.794 --> 00:01:26.765 but I'm grateful for it. 00:01:26.765 --> 00:01:29.949 And I want to share with you today the story 00:01:29.949 --> 00:01:34.974 of how I was able to break down internal boundaries 00:01:34.974 --> 00:01:37.521 and build connections with people who supported me 00:01:37.521 --> 00:01:40.177 and wanted to see me reach my dreams, 00:01:40.177 --> 00:01:43.255 in order to start living free. 00:01:43.255 --> 00:01:45.863 It's January 21st 2013, 00:01:45.863 --> 00:01:48.845 and I've just successfully defended my Ph.D. in chemistry, 00:01:48.845 --> 00:01:51.788 at Duke University to a roomful of people. 00:01:51.788 --> 00:01:55.632 As you can imagine I was pretty much on cloud nine then. 00:01:55.632 --> 00:01:57.962 5 years of 6.5 day workweeks, 00:01:57.962 --> 00:01:59.722 long hours, and I will admit, 00:01:59.722 --> 00:02:03.973 a few tears along the way, were finally over. 00:02:03.973 --> 00:02:06.782 And not only were they over, but I was proud. 00:02:06.782 --> 00:02:09.021 I was proud of the work that I had completed, 00:02:09.021 --> 00:02:10.569 I felt like I had made a contribution 00:02:10.569 --> 00:02:13.107 to the scientific community. 00:02:13.107 --> 00:02:15.916 Also, I had a job lined up, 00:02:15.916 --> 00:02:17.981 which is becoming more and more rare these days 00:02:17.981 --> 00:02:19.256 with an advanced degree, 00:02:19.256 --> 00:02:21.863 but that's another topic for another day. 00:02:22.833 --> 00:02:24.929 In mid-February, I was starting a job 00:02:24.929 --> 00:02:27.025 at Redstone Arsenal with the army. 00:02:27.025 --> 00:02:29.122 And I was excited. 00:02:29.122 --> 00:02:32.365 I was going to be pursuing what I thought was my dream 00:02:32.365 --> 00:02:36.595 in helping our nation defend itself. 00:02:38.581 --> 00:02:40.601 I had everything set for my transition 00:02:40.601 --> 00:02:43.361 from graduate school to the real world. 00:02:43.361 --> 00:02:45.753 We sold our house in North Carolina, 00:02:45.753 --> 00:02:48.126 and my husband, Taylor, was able to find a new job, 00:02:48.126 --> 00:02:51.897 here in Huntsville, with a financial institution. 00:02:51.897 --> 00:02:54.168 We made the move, we got settled in 00:02:54.168 --> 00:02:57.248 in our little rental house here in Huntsville. 00:02:57.248 --> 00:02:59.516 Now it's Friday, and I'm set to start work 00:02:59.516 --> 00:03:01.874 first thing early Monday morning. 00:03:01.874 --> 00:03:04.172 Now, mind you, this is mid-February, 00:03:04.172 --> 00:03:06.480 you guys know what was going on, 00:03:06.480 --> 00:03:09.940 when an email pops up and it reads, 00:03:09.940 --> 00:03:13.661 "We're sorry, your start date has been delayed. 00:03:13.661 --> 00:03:15.844 and at this time, we are unsure 00:03:15.844 --> 00:03:19.317 as to when we'll be able to hire you." 00:03:20.157 --> 00:03:23.901 Wait a minute, you're kidding, right? 00:03:23.901 --> 00:03:26.439 The job that brought us to Huntsville, 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:29.405 the only reason that we moved here, 00:03:29.405 --> 00:03:31.771 has now fallen through. 00:03:31.771 --> 00:03:34.439 And I'm left unemployed. 00:03:34.439 --> 00:03:36.743 What do we do? 00:03:36.743 --> 00:03:39.145 We could go back to North Carolina, 00:03:39.145 --> 00:03:40.867 we have our friends there. 00:03:40.867 --> 00:03:44.640 But we have no house, we have no jobs, 00:03:44.640 --> 00:03:47.784 wherever we go, we have to start over. 00:03:47.784 --> 00:03:49.804 In our short amount of time here in Huntsville, 00:03:49.804 --> 00:03:51.966 we realized that we liked the city, 00:03:51.966 --> 00:03:53.902 and we thought that we could really enjoy it here 00:03:53.902 --> 00:03:56.418 and make this a home. 00:03:56.418 --> 00:03:58.608 So, we decided, "We're young, 00:03:58.608 --> 00:04:01.312 why not stay, give it a try?" 00:04:01.312 --> 00:04:03.037 Fortunately, Taylor had a job here 00:04:03.037 --> 00:04:05.212 and so we had some income coming in 00:04:05.212 --> 00:04:06.748 to support us for a while, 00:04:06.748 --> 00:04:09.694 until I figured out what I was going to do. 00:04:10.984 --> 00:04:13.601 I enjoyed, initially, staying at home, 00:04:13.601 --> 00:04:16.069 the house was clean, dinner was on the table every night. 00:04:16.069 --> 00:04:19.180 It was very different from graduate school life. 00:04:19.180 --> 00:04:24.225 I enjoyed relaxing -- for about two weeks. 00:04:25.169 --> 00:04:26.892 I found out that staying at home 00:04:26.892 --> 00:04:29.835 does not suit my personality very well. 00:04:30.535 --> 00:04:33.460 I needed to have a purpose. 00:04:33.460 --> 00:04:35.906 I needed to be challenged. 00:04:35.906 --> 00:04:40.935 I needed to be happy, and I needed to be free. 00:04:40.935 --> 00:04:43.094 So, what did I do? 00:04:43.094 --> 00:04:45.506 I started a business. 00:04:45.506 --> 00:04:47.879 Now, if you ask any of our friends back in North Carolina 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:49.357 if I was the type of person 00:04:49.357 --> 00:04:52.035 to ever launch out and start my own business, 00:04:52.035 --> 00:04:55.883 they would laugh, probably pretty hysterically. 00:04:55.883 --> 00:04:59.016 Not that I'm not creative or driven; 00:04:59.016 --> 00:05:01.591 I am not a risk taker. 00:05:01.591 --> 00:05:04.668 I have a huge fear of the unknown, 00:05:05.498 --> 00:05:08.162 and I like to micromanage, 00:05:08.162 --> 00:05:10.966 I like to have everything planned out, 00:05:10.966 --> 00:05:12.652 know all the steps along the way. 00:05:12.652 --> 00:05:15.428 I am a chemist, after all. 00:05:16.298 --> 00:05:20.615 Launching a new business requires substantial risk, 00:05:20.615 --> 00:05:24.149 and this just wasn't any business -- 00:05:24.149 --> 00:05:27.539 I wanted to open a dedicated gluten-free bakery, 00:05:27.539 --> 00:05:31.350 here in Huntsville, Alabama, 00:05:31.350 --> 00:05:35.320 in the South, home of fried food. 00:05:35.320 --> 00:05:39.810 Hmm, let's see, that might not go over so well. 00:05:39.810 --> 00:05:42.256 Having a severe gluten sensitivity myself, 00:05:42.256 --> 00:05:44.892 I was surprised with how little awareness, 00:05:44.892 --> 00:05:48.689 and how many baked goods there were 00:05:48.689 --> 00:05:51.750 available here in Huntsville. 00:05:51.750 --> 00:05:53.780 I've always loved to bake, 00:05:53.780 --> 00:05:57.437 and my husband's always dreamed of owning a business. 00:05:57.437 --> 00:06:01.776 Now a bakery, probably, had never crossed his mind -- 00:06:01.776 --> 00:06:05.590 but the things you do for the people you love, right? 00:06:05.590 --> 00:06:09.859 So, I knew that in order to launch this business, 00:06:09.859 --> 00:06:12.402 I needed to take a risk. 00:06:12.402 --> 00:06:15.405 Sometimes I think that the biggest boundaries that we face 00:06:15.405 --> 00:06:18.944 are the ones that we set for ourselves. 00:06:18.944 --> 00:06:22.419 We build up walls that limit us, 00:06:22.419 --> 00:06:26.168 and they're completely self-imposed. 00:06:26.168 --> 00:06:28.180 Since I like to micromanage, 00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:31.983 Taylor and I sat down and started looking at all the numbers. 00:06:31.983 --> 00:06:35.874 We looked at, you know, the sales that we would have to do 00:06:35.874 --> 00:06:39.223 to simply pay rent on a commercial kitchen, 00:06:39.223 --> 00:06:44.693 let alone equipment, utilities, insurance, all of the other stuff. 00:06:44.693 --> 00:06:46.164 I said, "There's no way. 00:06:46.164 --> 00:06:49.035 There can't be that many people in Huntsville 00:06:49.035 --> 00:06:50.778 that either need to be gluten-free 00:06:50.778 --> 00:06:53.971 or are interested in a cleaner lifestyle. 00:06:54.581 --> 00:06:56.636 I wanted to throw in the towel. 00:06:56.636 --> 00:06:59.345 I said, "There's no way, it won't work." 00:06:59.345 --> 00:07:01.866 My fear of the unknown was getting in the way. 00:07:01.866 --> 00:07:04.600 I wasn't willing to take that risk. 00:07:05.937 --> 00:07:09.844 One of the other crucial pieces to living free, 00:07:09.844 --> 00:07:12.827 besides breaking your own boundaries, 00:07:12.827 --> 00:07:15.414 is building connections with people 00:07:15.414 --> 00:07:19.124 who support you and help build you up. 00:07:19.124 --> 00:07:21.055 Taylor, my husband, 00:07:21.055 --> 00:07:24.316 he knew that this would make me happy, 00:07:24.316 --> 00:07:27.708 he knew that it was one of my dreams. 00:07:27.708 --> 00:07:29.873 He said, "Let's do it." 00:07:29.873 --> 00:07:33.234 I resisted, I resisted for a long time. 00:07:34.508 --> 00:07:37.431 He said, "No, let's do it. Let's give it a shot. 00:07:37.431 --> 00:07:42.145 If it fails, it fails. We can say that we tried." 00:07:42.145 --> 00:07:43.740 And so we did. 00:07:43.740 --> 00:07:45.325 We started out small, 00:07:45.325 --> 00:07:47.630 within the means that I was comfortable, 00:07:47.630 --> 00:07:49.576 started out the farmers' markets, 00:07:49.576 --> 00:07:52.615 to kind of gauge the interest in the area, 00:07:52.615 --> 00:07:54.777 before we launched a full storefront. 00:07:54.777 --> 00:07:56.837 We got great feedback, 00:07:56.837 --> 00:07:59.074 everything was going well, 00:07:59.074 --> 00:08:03.115 we were planning for the opening of our storefront, 00:08:03.115 --> 00:08:05.284 when I get a phone call: 00:08:06.699 --> 00:08:10.410 "Your job has become re-available, 00:08:10.410 --> 00:08:13.557 and you're required to take it." 00:08:13.557 --> 00:08:17.043 I was under a service for scholarship contract, 00:08:17.043 --> 00:08:19.751 and, even though I have been left unemployed for 6 months, 00:08:19.751 --> 00:08:23.157 I was required to come back and take the job. 00:08:24.407 --> 00:08:28.438 We're at a crossroads again. What do we do? 00:08:28.438 --> 00:08:32.846 I'm happy, I'm loving the bakery, I've found my passion, 00:08:32.846 --> 00:08:36.999 I am living my dream, I am living free. 00:08:39.179 --> 00:08:42.566 I didn't know what to do. I thought we had to walk away. 00:08:42.566 --> 00:08:46.560 How can I run a bakery and work full-time? 00:08:46.560 --> 00:08:50.769 At the time, my husband, he wasn't really happy with his job. 00:08:50.769 --> 00:08:55.103 It wasn't fulfilling him. He wasn't living free. 00:08:57.399 --> 00:09:00.775 Here comes Superman again, saving the day. 00:09:00.775 --> 00:09:04.523 He says, "I'll quit my job, 00:09:04.523 --> 00:09:07.776 I'll run the bakery." 00:09:07.776 --> 00:09:11.417 "You, baking cupcakes!?" 00:09:12.337 --> 00:09:14.315 You're Superman at home, you wear a cape. 00:09:14.315 --> 00:09:17.287 But wearing an apron, that's a whole nother thing. 00:09:18.047 --> 00:09:20.620 He says, "I know it makes you happy. 00:09:20.620 --> 00:09:22.785 I'm not happy right now. 00:09:22.785 --> 00:09:25.866 Maybe I can find the same passion that you have. 00:09:25.866 --> 00:09:29.209 Maybe I can start living free." 00:09:29.209 --> 00:09:31.555 So, he quits his job. 00:09:31.555 --> 00:09:33.327 Me, not being a risk taker, 00:09:33.327 --> 00:09:35.538 it's a lot of sleepless nights. 00:09:36.950 --> 00:09:41.331 Now, for six months in to the business, 00:09:41.331 --> 00:09:43.337 things are going great. 00:09:43.337 --> 00:09:45.980 Taylor's running the bakery during the day. 00:09:45.980 --> 00:09:47.921 I work the early shift on the Arsenal, 00:09:47.921 --> 00:09:51.648 and then go and bake in the evenings. 00:09:51.648 --> 00:09:54.236 We're happy. 00:09:54.236 --> 00:09:56.685 Are we where we thought we would be? 00:09:56.685 --> 00:10:01.245 If you would have asked us this a year ago, well, no. 00:10:01.245 --> 00:10:03.016 Are we making the money 00:10:03.016 --> 00:10:05.649 that we had planned on making here in Huntsville? 00:10:05.649 --> 00:10:08.752 Oh, by no means, no. 00:10:08.752 --> 00:10:13.904 But does that matter? Because we're happy, 00:10:13.904 --> 00:10:16.142 and we're living free. 00:10:16.142 --> 00:10:17.854 Taylor will tell you he gets up 00:10:17.854 --> 00:10:20.306 every morning over two hours earlier, 00:10:20.306 --> 00:10:23.560 but he's excited to start his day. 00:10:23.560 --> 00:10:27.979 That passion, that excitement, that's how we should live 00:10:27.979 --> 00:10:30.649 every day of our life. 00:10:31.759 --> 00:10:34.200 So, I want to ask you: 00:10:34.200 --> 00:10:36.504 Are you living free? 00:10:37.074 --> 00:10:39.514 A lot of the speakers that have been up here today, 00:10:39.514 --> 00:10:41.014 I can tell that they are. 00:10:41.014 --> 00:10:42.995 You can see the passion, 00:10:42.995 --> 00:10:46.266 you can feel the joy of what they do, 00:10:46.266 --> 00:10:49.489 and that joy is contagious. 00:10:49.489 --> 00:10:52.720 So, if you are living free, I commend you, 00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:57.130 keep up the good work and continue spreading the joy. 00:10:58.330 --> 00:11:02.320 But if you're not, I challenge you. 00:11:03.290 --> 00:11:06.769 It's going to require breaking some of your boundaries. 00:11:06.769 --> 00:11:09.319 You have to find your passion, 00:11:09.319 --> 00:11:12.409 and it might require taking a risk. 00:11:13.169 --> 00:11:16.970 But build connections with those that build you up, 00:11:16.970 --> 00:11:19.960 and that support your dreams, 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:23.360 and start living free. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:25.968 Tomorrow is almost here. 00:11:26.678 --> 00:11:29.048 Do you want to waste another day? 00:11:29.838 --> 00:11:31.465 Thank you. 00:11:31.465 --> 00:11:33.465 (Applause)