Patti Rudowsky

I attribute my success to three things. First is where I grew up and the people I grew up with, my family and my friends. There wasn't a lot of money, but people helped each other and lived very spiritually. The second is what I was gifted with. I could read at a very young age, and writing came easily to me. When I went to school, it was very easy for me, and they even had me teach in second grade, tutoring kids that couldn't pick up some of the stuff. The third thing is that I'm open to things. I pay attention, I'm awake, and I see what's going on. I use my intuition to recognize when something is not a place for me or when it is a place for me. Being aware and using that intuition to keep my course and direction going has been essential to my success.

The best career advice I ever received was from my mother, who always told me, 'You've got the light, and don't ever forget it. It might dim at times, but always remember who you are and what you were born with, and continue. Don't give up.' This advice has stayed with me throughout my life. When I work with kids, even my own grandkids, I watch what they naturally lean towards and what they return to over time. I pay attention to what brings them peace, because that's where their gifts lie. My mother's words taught me to recognize and honor the natural talents I was born with and to never give up on them, even when things get difficult.

If I had to do it again, knowing what I know now, I would say that proximity matters. Place yourself where the people are doing what you want to do and succeeding at it. I should have been in New York City when I was younger, knocking on doors and getting my foot in the door. I'm not sorry for the path I took, because I took care of a lot of people in my family, but if you really want to succeed when you're young, go to where the people are who are doing what you want to do and succeeding. Put yourself in that environment, because that's where the opportunities and connections are. When you're young, people are more prone to helping you and taking you under their wing, so take advantage of that time.

The biggest challenge and opportunity I face right now is that I had to make a living doing other things throughout my life, so I wasn't able to write all the things I wanted to write until now, later in life. Now I finally have the time to process everything I've lived through and I have so much more to say because of all that life experience. But the problem is that I don't have the connections I would have built if I'd been younger and knocking on doors in New York. People are more willing to mentor younger people and take them under their wing, but by this age, they're less inclined to do that. So while I probably have more depth and substance to offer because I've lived so much, I don't have the people willing to mentor me or help me navigate the path I need to follow to get my work out there. That's the biggest challenge I'm facing in my field right now.

I'm very spiritual, and I live by the Ten Commandments and the principle of do unto others as you would have done to you. I live by helping whenever I see something or someone in front of me that needs help. I've always been that way, even if it puts me in danger. Growing up on the wild streets of Newark and Irvington, I made an agreement with God a long time ago that if somebody's getting hurt, I'm going in to help them, so I hope He helps me. I just believe in good, solid values: be honest, love your people, and don't play head games. Find something to do that you love to make money, and then enjoy your people. It's very simple. People complicate it, but it doesn't have to be complicated. I'm a giver, and it took me a long time to learn that I needed to step back from people who are just takers and not on the same plateau as I am. I never cut anyone off totally, because I don't think that's nice, but I do step back when I see they're not meeting me halfway.