I was born in Bratislava, Slovakia!

I was born in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia, a tiny Eastern European country with a population of just 5.5 million. My upbringing was a blend of cultures—my mother being Slovak and my father from Africa—which offered me a unique perspective from a young age. I grew up in a multi-generational household where I, my brother, and both my parents shared a small apartment with my grandparents. Our situation could be described as middle-lower class at best, meaning life was very modest. I initially included a picture of the area where I lived, but frankly the area looked a little too depressing (think “Soviet housing blocks”). To make matters worse, my parents divorced when I was young, further straining our financial situation. The 90s and early 2000s in Eastern Europe were tough, especially for a mixed raced kid, with limited opportunities for many. I was surrounded by humble beginnings, even by Eastern European standards, though at the time, I didn’t know any different. Running an online business or traveling seemed so remote that I never even dreamed of it.