Sean Feeney

And I was like, well, don't say no so quickly, but I understand.

And I went upstairs.

Maria looked at me.

She was standing at the end.

We had eight stairs up to our apartment and she was standing at the door listening.

She's like, what are you going to do?

And I said, we're going to be partners with Missy.

And for four months, every single night I came home from Anchorage with something to talk to Missy about on why we should be partners.

it was a belief that I had a human that I knew she deserved.

And it wasn't even like we were saving her, but I just believed so deeply in someone that I was willing to do something that I never thought I could do, which was be an entrepreneur or think anything other than being an employee.

It was September 28, 2012, opening night of the Barclay Center.

Jay-Z, and I'll never forget this moment where he looks out into the crowd, said, everybody has a genius, and started calling people out in the crowd, you with the yellow hat.

I see you.

You've got a genius.

You are a genius.

And I just thought it was so cool at that time.

That was 2012.

Then when Lilia opened and I felt something different in me, I thought back to that time where I heard him say, everybody has a genius level talent.

And I started thinking about that and I started looking at other people who have felt a certain way about what they do.

And for me, it was feeling comfortable with who I was and what makes me jump out of bed and what comes so naturally.