Paula Pagano: The Early Years

In our fifth grade class Miss Langley poses a question. Who of you here wants to be happy? I am wide-alert, sitting upright in the hard back wooden chair looking straight ahead. The belief that I can be happy and successful is what keeps me going day after day.

My own journey of self-transformation began with leaving a medical research job in New York thirty years ago and moving to California. Like the Gold Rush 49ers, the wagon trains, the surfers and the Mamas and the Papas, I had heard of the unlimited opportunities in California.

Laguna Beach, where I settled, could not be more different from the town I grew up in. Instead of snow, sand. Instead of business suits, swim suits. Instead of strict discipline, creative entrepreneurship. It was here that I learned some valuable life lessons. When I moved to San Francisco, I continued my journey and became the #1 salesperson in my office during a recession when interest rates soared to 17% and remained a top producer for most of my career.