Acknowledgments

To everyone who has ever supported me, which would include far too many names to list—thank you. So many people have taken a chance on my ideas and my work and have helped get me to where I am today. I have had so many doors open through someone saying, “Hey, give it a try”—and thank you for pushing me to try.

Thank you to Morgan Housel, Nick Magguilli, Tracy Alloway, Kai Ryssdal, Joe Weisenthal, and so many more for giving me this opportunity.

To Matt Bebb, Zach Cowie, Regina Gerbeaux, Alex Good, Grant Gregory, Kristen Hemenez, Katie Hightchew, David Hoag, Cam Iadeluca, Doug McLaughlin, David Phelps, Andrew Rea, Ben Wheeler, and Fran Wilson, for always believing in me even when I didn’t believe in myself.

To Anna Toderas and Ananya Kannan for doing so much incredible editing work and helping to keep me on track.

To everyone who tunes in to the TikToks and the Instagram Reels and the YouTubes and the shorts and the newsletter and the podcast—thank you. You’re the reason that this book is possible, and you have all shaped me into who I am today. You are incredible.

To Dr. Chhachhi, Dr. Lebendinsky, and everyone else at Western Kentucky University—you also made me who I am today. Your unconditional support for whatever wild idea I wanted to run with gave me the creative freedom to test out a lot of things, to fail with grace, and stand back up again.

To the team at Penguin Random House, especially Leah Trouwborst for letting me get some of these ideas on paper.