ALEX | ENTREPRENEUR | BRICK, NJ

STORY I was a "troubled" high schooler.  Always cutting classes, making trouble, and being the "class clown."  I have always craved making an impact on those who I was around, it just took me a little while to realize it feels better when it's a positive impact vs a negative one.  After barely passing high school and trying one semester of college, I realized that route wasn't for me.  I enlisted in the US Navy in 2014.  I craved the structure and leaned into it.  However, bad habits die hard.  I still wanted to "be bad," and I had not learned habits that would help me reframe my mindset toward positive impact...yet.  I worked my way up the ranks in my 5 years on active duty and ended up being the leader of my division in two years.  Through this process I learned a lot about myself.  I was in an organization called "CSADD," Coalition of Sailors against Destructive Decisions.  We helped give other options to junior sailors, who, like myself at first, felt there was no other place to tu