How an Interior Designer Draws Strength From Her Grandfather's Former Church When times get tough, this entrepreneur turns to the past for help.

I remember Sunday mornings, growing up on the west side of Chicago: the streets quiet, the air still, my grandfather's pocket change jingling while he opened the doors to his church. Reverend Johnnie Jackson was a Baptist preacher -- rousing, animated and moved by the spirit. Whatever your troubles were, Reverend Jackson preached, if you remained steadfast and trusted God, everything would be taken care of. I am very proud of the stability and hope that he and my grandmother offered the community.

Related: 4 Companies Share How to Instill Hope in Employees

After moving away to Los Angeles in the mid-'90s, I enrolled in college and studied to become a pediatrician. I worked my way through school designing window displays for a home-goods store. One day a woman came in and told me that I was in the wrong business, that I needed to consider becoming an interior designer. Hesitant to abandon my dream of becoming a doctor, I took an introductory design class as an elective. I was hooked. It was a wonderful balance of science, art and ingenuity, and it spoke to my passion for helping people. I learned everything I could about the business, and in 1997, with help from a $100 Christmas gift, I opened my own firm, Decor Interior Design.