Nothing Without My Mom ??

So I just recently joined an online community of successful entrepreneurs from all different walks of life. Upon being placed in my specific group, we were asked to introduce ourselves by sharing a story about someone for whom we have immense gratitude for.

I thought for a few seconds, but it didn't take long...It's super cliche, but there's no one I can think of that I'm more grateful for then my mom Michele Martocci , but trust me, it's warranted...

Ever since I was a young hustling entrepreneurial kid, she had always been my biggest fan (and initial customer). My mom came from an Italian family in Brooklyn that was very much lower-middle class. There weren't a ton of opportunities for a young Italian girl from a working class family in Brooklyn, but somehow she managed to get her foot in the door at Morgan Stanley at the age of 18 as an assistant.

She had aspirations of going to college and using her degree as a launching pad to get out of her neighborhood and start a career. While at MS she would take classes on the side but she never quite had the time to finish. By 22 she was pregnant with my sister (after marrying my dad at 21), she was hitting her stride at work and her dreams of a degree were falling further rout of reach.

By 27 she had me and she was climbing the corporate ladder, having moved out of the assistant roles and into more substantial ones. Around the time I was around 5 or 6, my parents had divorced...this left my mom in a tough spot, working full time in NYC a now single mom of two, gone at 7am, 1hr+ us ride to NYC, work 9 hours and back home around 7pm, tired squeezing in some night classes to work towards a degree, supporting us essentially on her own income, needing to pay for a full time nanny to take care of us etc.

We never really suffered but these were definitely leaner times and I didn't get to spend as much time with my mom as I would have liked and a normal kid does...that said, I attribute these years to being formidable in my development as I had to learn to be independent and mature fast...growing up I was also the kid that liked to hang out with my friends parents...I had a great childhood but it wasn't quite the same (was also in my DNA to be that way)

Fast forward a few more years, my mom had progressed from Associate, to VP, to Managing Director, super well respected amongst peers - that said, her lack of a degree continuously held her back, she could have progressed even further and was making at least half of what others with the same title were.

Given this, her kids going to college was a huge deal for her...My sister was the first to get a degree in our entire family, graduating in 2013...I was up next, having recently gotten into William & Mary in Virginia...you should have seen here, shopping bags filled form the book store, rocking the sweatshirt, the magnets on her fridge, the stickers on her car...she was living vicariously through us...the girl from Brooklyn with nothing had created something of herself and gave us this opportunity to do what she couldn't do!

I was on the fast track in finance, one of the top students, my mom (through MS) helped me get an internship at a hedge fund...I was doing all of the right things, until one day it hit me...I needed to get out of this place. I was a natural born entrepreneur, I get it from my dad, I was starting "businesses" at 5 years old.

I didn't belong at school, I didn't want to be a wealth manager or Investment banker...so it's Winter break junior year, we're supposed to head back from the Spring semester, I end up driving down to school by myself, head to the admin office, sign the papers and drop out of William & Mary...I didn't tell my parents, I just did it.

Through a series of events I had linked up with an ex-NFL player and decided to start a business with him...when it came time to tell my mom she was heartbroken...her dream, the opportunities she created for me, the path I was on in finance...all shattered from her perspective and knowing her story I knew where she was coming from, but I also knew deep down she knew I'd figure it out and I was meant to be an entrepreneur, but it took her a good 1-2 years before she would come to peace with the decision...

The thing she didn't realize at the time was that she gave me the greatest gift in the world...it wasn't going to college, or the internship, or a fast track into Morgan Stanley...it was the ability to swing big, take risks, and go after my dreams, something she could never do for herself.

Two years after dropping out of school I ended up starting SwagUp ...I lived at her house at the time and turned her entire house into the initial SwagUp HQ, boxes piled up in every room...as SwagUp began to take off, she started to see the power of entrepreneurship for herself.

She ultimately ended up leaving MS after 30 years there and started a salon with her best friend which has been in business for over 4 years and is profitable...she has also gotten into some real estate investing with a couple of rental properties and flips over the last few years, inspired by watching me go after my dreams.

I would be nothing without my mom's support and the foundation that she laid for me and my sister to go after our dreams and swing big and if I can be that for her as well, well that'd be a pretty great way to bring it back full circle

P.S. My mom was actually in the World Trade Center on 9/11, I was in Kindergarten, my uncle and grandma picked me up from school that day while my mom rushed down 60+ flights of stairs helping fellow workers along the way, running across the Brooklyn Bridge covered in soot, out of harms way - We will literally never forget that day and it makes everything above that much more special and powerful